


Come Hell or High Water

by kawaiidonut



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Angst, M/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-04-05 02:49:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 61,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4162833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawaiidonut/pseuds/kawaiidonut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aoba guts fish for a living. Clear is half-fish, but he isn't afraid of Aoba.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> a lot of people seem to be into the whole mer!clear/aoba thing (myself included) so i though i'd give it a shot!! this is gonna be different from my other fics because 1. i actually have the whole plot planned out!! wow and 2. there will be significantly fewer porn scenes. lmao i hope you enjoy regardless!! this is a very short introductory sort of chapter, future chapters will be the same length that they were in my last fic, don't worry!!

"I'm going out to check the traps!" Aoba called to nobody in particular.

"I'll come, too!" Somebody yelled back. A few seconds later, Koujaku came bounding down the stairs, pulling his boots on as he ran and almost tripping a few times.

Aoba wasn't really sure how he wound up here, living with four smelly fishermen in a smelly fish house. In the small village of Midorijima, there weren't many job opportunities besides working in the fishing industry. That's what Aoba did; he gutted fish and checked the lobster traps. Though his job wasn't very glamorous, Aoba was glad he wasn't an actual fisherman. He had a crippling and totally irrational fear of swimming in the ocean. With his job, he never had to actually risk going in the water, so he had no complaints.

As he walked to the shoreline with Koujaku, he half-listened to what his friend was saying. Aoba was pretty sure he was talking about the wild time he’d had with Mizuki a few nights prior. Koujaku and Mizuki were his two closest friends, and he spent the majority of his free time with them. His other two housemates, Mink and Noiz, weren’t bad people or anything; they just weren’t as sociable as Aoba wished they were.

Koujaku was still rambling. “And then she brought her friend over, and we were like -- hey, man, are you listening? I’m almost at the best part!”

“I’ve already heard this story a million times!” Aoba laughed. “Just help me pull the traps in.”

Aoba tried to ignore the rising fear in his gut at the smell of the ocean breeze, choosing to focus on the task at hand instead. He had pulled the rope halfway to the shore when he heard a piercing, girlish scream beside him. Startled, he snapped to face Koujaku, only to find him pointing a shaky finger out at the sea, face as white as the seafoam.

"What the fuck is _that?!"_

Aoba followed Koujaku's gaze until he saw it, too; a large, iridescent pink fish tail sticking out of the water several metres away. He didn't understand Koujaku's horror until he noticed that it was attached to what looked to be a man's torso. The creature was wearing a diving helmet, though, so Aoba couldn't see their face.

Koujaku was still frozen in place. "What should we do?"

"Uh...leave it alone, I guess," Aoba said with a shrug. "It's not threatening us, right?"

Koujaku still eyed the creature with caution. "I don't know, Aoba..."

Another one surfaced, this time in a gas mask. This one seemed to notice Aoba and Koujaku, and they waved their arm at them.

"Hello! It's nice to meet you!"

The one in the diving helmet smacked the loud one on the head and shoved them under the water by their shoulders.

"I think they've got it under control," Aoba noted. "We should leave."

With the lobsters in tow, Aoba and Koujaku headed back to the shack. Resisting the urge to look back over his shoulder, Aoba tried to forget about what he saw. Whatever those things were, they were obviously adapted enough to be able to communicate. Something fishy was going on in those waters, and Aoba didn't really feel like getting involved.

As hard as he tried, though, he couldn’t get it out of his head. Every slimy fish he scaled only reminded him of the creatures in the ocean. He barely got halfway through the pile of fish he was supposed to deal with; for some reason, the thought of slicing up fish tails was nauseating to him. It had never bothered him before.

Later that evening, while Aoba was showering the fish guts off of him, he heard something.

"Is that...singing?" He mumbled to himself, turning the water off so he could hear better. The soft, unmistakable sound of someone’s voice floated in through the half-open window. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he could have sworn they sounded sad.

Aoba had trouble falling asleep that night.

*     *     *

Clear didn’t hate very many things. He didn’t like it when he got his tail tangled in the seaweed, and it was definitely upsetting when he saw the fishermen catch his half-siblings in their nets and drag them to shore, but he rarely _hated_ anything. He preferred to be as positive as possible; life was better that way.

But he was pretty sure he came pretty close to hating it when Toue came around.

“Good morning!” Toue boomed in his magnificent voice that still caught Clear off-guard sometimes. “Are you ready to have your singing evaluated?” He stood atop one of the rocks on the shoreline, towering over the three mermen in the water. He would have been intimidating enough just standing on the sand, but Clear supposed that Toue wanted to seem especially powerful.

Alpha One shot his scaly arm into the air. “Before we do that, I have something to report, Master!”

"You do?" Toue raised an eyebrow. “Go on.”

“Clearly Stupid over here tried to talk to the humans yesterday!”

“Is that so?”

Clear cowered under Toue’s stern, judgmental gaze. He wanted to sink to the bottom of the ocean and stay there forever.

"You idiot!" Alpha Two snarled through his welding mask, smacking Clear on the head. "You know we're not supposed to talk to them! Did your egg get damaged before you hatched or something?!"

"I just wanted to make friends," Clear whimpered as he rubbed the bump forming on his scalp.

"Toue doesn't want us to make friends! He's the only friend we need."

"But Toue-san wants us to be happy, right?"

"Toue knows what's best for us, and talking to humans isn't it!"

"I won't do it again, I promise!"

Toue cleared his throat three times, sharply enough to make the merfolk stop their bickering. “Thank you, Alpha, for telling me.”

Alpha One snickered, obviously very proud of himself.

“As for you, Clear,” Toue continued, “there will be repercussions. You have not only disobeyed me, but you have clearly been refusing to practice singing, seeing as how you have not improved. I had brought you a new sketchbook, as your current one is nearly full, but I will not be giving it to you today. Possibly not ever, unless you begin to show some respect.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I want you to go sit on that rock and think about what you’ve done. Don’t move until I tell you that you can.”

Clear looked down at the surface of the water dejectedly. “Yes, Master.” He swam over to the rock, making sure to leave a few inches of his tail in the water so he didn’t die or anything.

Toue was so unfair! Clear had _so_ been practicing his singing; he practiced every night! It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t sound like his brothers. And what was so wrong with talking to humans, anyway? Clear had seen the blue-haired man out before and he seemed like the kind of person Clear would want to be friends with. Clear had even witnessed him throwing some of the trapped lobsters back in the ocean! If Toue only gave it a chance, he would see that merpeople and humans could coexist. Besides, Toue was human, wasn’t he? Clear and his brothers were expected to completely trust and rely on _him._ Why was the blue-haired man any different?

Clear sighed, glaring down at his webbed fingers with resentment. If only he could be human, too, then he would be free to live however he wanted!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba meets the strange merperson in a gas mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here is chapter two!! it's also kind of short but there just isnt that much to say at this point lmao

Aoba had begged Koujaku not to tell anyone about the merpeople. He didn't want to stir up anything if there wasn't any real danger. Koujaku promised to keep quiet about it; he said he wouldn't even tell Mizuki. Aoba wasn't sure if he really believed him, though.

As Aoba ate dinner with his four housemates that evening, he could see Koujaku glancing around nervously and scratching behind his ear. He looked like he really wanted to tell the others about what he saw.

"What's your problem, gramps?" Noiz asked.

Koujaku stiffened. "Why the hell are you calling me gramps? Mink is at least ten years older than me."

"He's right, Red," Mink interjected, ignoring the comment about his age. "You seem nervous."

Koujaku's eyes darted to Aoba for half a second. "I'm fine," he mumbled.

The next time Aoba went to check the lobster traps, he went alone. He was immediately glad he had chosen to do that when he saw the gas mask merperson approaching him.

"Hey!" He waved his arm (which Aoba noticed was glistening with pearlescent scales). "Hey, mister! I saw you a few days ago! My name is Clear!"

Fucking _great!_ Aoba sighed. "Yeah, I remember you. I shouldn't be talking to you, though. I have work to do."

"I know, I know! I'm not supposed to talk to you, either. Master says it's dangerous."

"Master?"

"Yes! Master's name is Toue-san, and he takes care of my brothers and I. We are very lucky to have him!"

Toue... Why did that sound so familiar? Aoba got a weird feeling, but he shrugged it off and started to pull the traps in. "He sounds like a nice guy."

"He is! He even teaches us to sing! Though he says I'm not very good," Clear admitted sheepishly. "I practice very hard at night when everyone is asleep, but every time I do it in front of him, he says I'm not doing it right."

"I heard someone singing last night. Was it you?"

"What did it sound like?"

Aoba hummed what he could remember of the song.

Clear nodded rapidly. "Yes, that was me! Did I bother you? I'm very sorry!"

"No, no! I actually thought you sounded really good. What's this Toue guy's problem?"

"He doesn't have a problem! He says he's the only human we can trust, so I believe that he knows what he's talking about."

"Is he the one that makes you wear those masks?"

"Yes! According to him, we have very unattractive faces, so we need to stay hidden."

"And you believe him?"

"Of course!" His voice lowered, and Aoba actually found himself leaning in to hear him better. "Though, if I had a choice, I would probably rather have someone like you as my Master."

Aoba faltered mid-movement, though he quickly recovered a second later. "M-Me? Why?"

"I see you come down here a lot. I've always hidden behind the rocks so you wouldn't see me, but I usually watch you as you work. You seem like a very kind person."

"Is Toue not a kind person?"

Clear's big, fishy ears drooped a little. "I trust Master, and I will obey any of his orders because I believe he knows what's best for me and my brothers. It takes a lot of kindness for him to help us, so that must make him a kind person, right?"

"Right," Aoba replied absently, packing the lobsters up and baiting the traps again.

"Still..." Clear's voice dropped to a whisper and he sat up even closer towards Aoba. "Sometimes, I get a funny feeling in my stomach when he tells me what to do. Is that bad?"

"If you feel that something's wrong, it probably is."

"You're very smart, mister."

"Call me Aoba."

"Ehh?"

"My name is Aoba. Call me by my name."

"Are you sure that's okay?"

"Yes! I'm telling you to do it."

"Okay, then...Aoba-san."

"Not 'Aoba-san!' Just 'Aoba.'"

"I can't!"

Aoba chuckled. "Okay, 'Aoba-san' is fine. Are you gonna get in trouble for talking to me?"

"Maybe," Clear admitted. "But I don't mind! I'm very drawn to you, Aoba-san."

Aoba didn't want to tell Clear, but he felt a strange tug in his chest when he looked at him. Was that what Clear was feeling, too?

"I'll be back tomorrow," Aoba said as he walked away. Clear waved goodbye and disappeared under the waves.

Technically, Aoba didn't need to go back tomorrow. He only had to check the traps every second day, but he didn't want to wait that long to see Clear again. He replayed their conversation over and over again in his head as he walked back home.

When he got to the shack, he saw Mink and Koujaku loading up guns.

"What are you doing? You don't need guns to fish."

"We're going to try to get those things out there," Mink explained. "They pose a potential threat. We shouldn't trust them."

"You told him?!" Aoba yelled at Koujaku, stamping his foot in anger. "How could you do that? You promised you wouldn't!"

"It's not safe, Aoba! Mink's right. We need to get rid of them!"

Panic flared through Aoba's veins. "No! You can't hurt them! Just give it some time, please?"

"Why do you care so much?" Koujaku asked, scrunching his nose up.

"B-Because! They're at least half-human, and they can speak and think for themselves. There's no reason to hurt them right now!"

"What if they hurt one of our crew members?" Mink asked darkly.

"Then you can defend yourselves. It's too soon to attack them!" He faced them with his saddest pouty expression, knowing he was cute enough to make them cave. Sure enough, Koujaku and Mink huffed and locked their supplies back up in the cabinet.

"I can't believe this," Mink muttered. "Defending a couple of fish!"

"Give me the keys," Aoba ordered.

"What?"

"Give me the keys to the cabinet!"

Mink looked like he was ready to go off on him, but Koujaku handed the keys over before he could protest. Aoba took them with a smile and headed to his room to properly hide them.

The thought of anyone causing Clear harm was enough to give Aoba pain in his chest. Poor Clear didn't want to hurt anyone! He was just trying to branch out of the tiny bubble Toue had been forcing him into. Aoba just hoped Clear wouldn't get in a lot of trouble for talking to him...

*     *     *

Clear knew this was coming. He had known how risky it would be to approach Aoba, but he couldn't resist the impulse. That didn't make a lot of sense to him; he had observed countless humans before, studied them and sketched them in his books, but he had never had such a strong urge to talk to one of them until Aoba came along. Clear didn't know why, but he felt like there was a magnet in his chest that was drawing them together. Regardless of the punishment, Clear was determined to see Aoba again. He would see Aoba again if it killed him.

Of course it was Alpha One who snitched on him for the second time. "Master, I have something to report again!"

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Clear was talking to humans again! This time, the human talked back!"

Toue shut his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. "Clear, I believe I told you to obey my orders."

"B-But, Master," Clear protested, "Aoba-san is a very nice person! I'm sure you would like him if you met him! Why am I not allowed to have friends?"

Toue stood stock still. "His name is Aoba?"

"Yes! He has blue hair and he is very interesting!"

"Master," Alpha One whined, "aren't you going to send him to the cage?"

"I would under normal circumstances, but Clear is usually well-behaved, so I'll make an exception. If he starts to influence your behaviour, I'll send you straight to the cage." He steepled his fingers. "But, for now, I will stop bringing you supplies as long as you continue to see him. That is the extent of your punishment."

"What? No fair!" The Alphas whined.

"Enough," Toue barked. "Clear is right. He should be allowed to have a friend."

"Can we have a friend?" Alpha Two asked.

"You have each other," Toue said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Now let me hear you sing."

Clear went first. He sang his heart out, hoping Aoba was able to hear him, wherever he was. He sang a song of wistful longing, a bittersweet song about a goal just barely out of reach. He had never sang anything so passionately in his entire life. When he was finished, Toue actually applauded him.

"That was better," he praised. "You're improving. Still, I want you to listen closely to your brothers. Pay attention to their technique."

Clear grit his teeth. If Toue just told him what he was looking for, Clear would do it! He would try his very hardest to please his Master. No matter what he did, he would never be able to satisfy Toue's requests if he didn't make his requests clear! A small part of him wondered why he cared so much about Toue's approval, and why Toue had bothered to teach them to sing in the first place. If he questioned things too much, though, Clear knew he might not like what he found out, so he tuned out his own thoughts and listened to his brothers' singing instead.

After Toue left, Clear settled in on a rock to draw in his sketchbook. As he flipped through the pages, he discovered that he only had a few fully blank ones left. He knew what he was going to use one of them for. Pulling a pencil out of the box, he tried to draw Aoba's face from memory. The first attempt wasn't good enough (it rarely was) so he erased it and tried again. The second try didn't do Aoba justice, either; neither did the third or the fourth or the fifth. Clear resolved that he would just have to have Aoba model for him. Maybe then he would be able to properly capture the fire in his eyes.

"What are you drawing?" Alpha Two asked, popping up from out of nowhere.

Clear hid his sketchbook under the sand. "Nothing! Just fish and stuff."

"Oh. Cool." The Alpha pulled himself up out of the water and sat beside Clear. After a minute or two, he asked, "What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"Talking to a human."

Clear tapped the bottom of his gas mask as if he were tapping his chin in thought. "It's just like talking to me or Toue-san or Alpha," he said. "Except Aoba-san has seen things that we haven't, so he has a different perspective than we do."

"A different perspective?"

"Yes! For example, he thinks it's strange that we wear our masks, but to us, it's strange not to wear them. See?"

Alpha Two shrugged. "I guess I get it."

"It's very neat to be able to talk to someone from the land world! They have all experienced interesting things, and they have so many stories to tell!"

"So do we, though, right?"

Clear furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, remember that time Alpha got asked out on a date by a seahorse? A human couldn't have something like that happen to them because they can't talk to fish. We're interesting, too."

"I suppose that's true," Clear said. He had never really thought about it like that.

Alpha Two started to shift his position on the rock, preparing to dive down under the water. "Don't tell Alpha or Toue that I asked you about this. I don't want to get in trouble."

"I won't tell them! You can trust me."

Clear couldn't see the Alpha's eyes through his welding mask, but he could feel them boring into him.

"Okay. Thanks," he said, then dove beneath the waves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who are the bad guys in this fic??? who knows


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba becomes Clear's new link to the world outside of his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is rly fun to write. hopefully that means that updates will come more quickly than they did with my last one lmfao

For the first time in a while, Aoba was excited about something. His life was still the same, essentially; he still had to wait in a line to use the washroom in the morning, and he still went to sleep smelling like dead fish at night. The only difference was that Clear was in his life now. Aoba was friends with a merman, and that was exciting enough to make everything seem brighter.

Speaking of bright, Clear's demeanor was absolutely radiant when Aoba came to visit that day. He waved Aoba over with his hand and said, "I want to show you something! Follow me!"

Aoba followed on the shore as Clear swam over to the little cave. He emerged with a book in his hands.

"What's this?"

"Master brings me art supplies when I do well in singing lessons," he explained. "I wanted to show you some of my drawings!"

Aoba flipped the book open and saw a few drawings of some trees and marine life.

"These are pretty good," Aoba said. "Especially the jellyfish."

"I've never seen a jellyfish before, so I had to look at a book for reference. They're so pretty!"

Aoba turned to the next page which depicted a few people walking along the shoreline. Most of the book was like that, but one page stood out; it was several drawings of a figure from the shoulders up, each one with a different, grotesque face.

"What's this supposed to be?"

"Master forbids us from ever looking at our faces. These are some ideas I've had of what I might look like under my mask."

"Clear, I'm sure you don't look like any of these."

"Do you think it's worse!?"

"No! I think your face is probably normal."

"But why would Toue-san make us wear masks if we have normal faces?"

Aoba shrugged. "Maybe he just likes having power over you. If he makes you feel bad about yourself, it's easier to control you."

Clear didn't reply.

"Why don't you just take it off?"

"I can't! There are many of Toue-san's rules that I am willing to break, but not that one. I cannot take off my mask."

Aoba let it go. He continued to flip through Clear's sketchbook, noting the dates at the corner of each page. The last one was several days ago.

"Why haven't you drawn anything recently?"

"I don't want to run out of pages. I won't have a new sketchbook for a while, so I only use it to draw when I really want to."

"Will Toue not bring you art supplies anymore?"

"No. He said that as long as I kept seeing you, he won't bring me anything. I would much rather see you than be able to continue drawing, though, so I don't mind it that much."

Aoba chose not to think too hard about what Clear had just confessed. "I'll bring you supplies, then."

Clear shook his head frantically. "Aoba-san, you don't have to do that! Besides, Toue-san would probably take them away."

"What if you hid them?"

"I suppose I could do that, but I don't want to be a burden on you, Aoba-san."

'It's no trouble, Clear. I have go to the store tomorrow anyway, so I'll get you a sketchbook while I'm there." He glared pointlessly at the water. "I'm not gonna let him do something like that to you."

Later that afternoon, Aoba headed to the supermarket to pick up some necessities. His housemates were all busier than Aoba due to the nature of their jobs, so it was usually up to Aoba to run errands. As he filled his shopping cart, he remembered his promise to Clear, so he also got a sketchbook and a few boxes of pencils.

While Aoba was in the checkout line, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned to look, but he couldn't see anyone. He did, however, see a bag of fish gummies, so he decided to get those.

*     *     *

Aoba returned the next day with a shopping bag in hand. Clear was ecstatic. He really, really, really hated being an inconvenience to Aoba, but he was thrilled at the prospect of being able to draw as much as he wanted. Besides singing and underwater gardening, drawing was one of the few things he really loved to do.

"Here you go!" Aoba chirped as he handed the bag over.

"Thank you very much, Aoba-san! You are the kindest person I've ever met."

"I'm the only person you've ever met aside from Toue, and he's an asshole."

Clear laughed. "You have a point."

"Look inside! I got you some other stuff, too."

Clear looked inside the bag. There was a sketchbook, some pencils and coloured pencils (which Clear had never before used), and some little red fish that didn't look real.

"What are these, Aoba-san?"

"They're candy! I figured you'd never tried candy before, so I brought you some. This kind is my favourite."

Clear pulled one of the tiny fish out of the plastic baggie that held them. "They're not real fish, are they?"

"No, they just look like them. Come on! Try it!"

Reluctantly, Clear unhooked the bottom half of his mask and slipped the fish under it, biting its head off. As he chewed, he noticed that it tasted vaguely like some kind of berry (Clear had a wide knowledge of fruits and vegetables -- Toue supplied him and his brothers with many of those). "It's...sweet. What is it made of?"

"Sugar, mostly."

Clear looked at the other half of the fish. Though he noticed that the fish's tail looked quite a bit like his own, he ate it anyway. "I like it!"

"You can have the rest! I bought them for you."

 _Aoba-san bought these especially for me?_ Clear couldn't contain the grin on his face. "Thank you so much!"

"It's no problem! Next time, I'll bring you a different kind."

Clear had read about the world in books that Toue supplied, so he had an abstract idea of everything, but he still didn't really know what life outside of his aquatic home was like. Maybe Aoba would change that?

As Clear ate the gummy fish, Aoba stared out into the horizon with a look in his eyes that Clear interpreted as sadness. It bothered him to see Aoba looking so sad, but he also thought it would make a stunning picture, so he took out his new sketchbook and began to draw him.

"What are you doing?" Aoba asked.

"Drawing the water," Clear lied. He didn't want Aoba to get self-conscious and change his expression. Evidently, his tactic worked. Aoba turned back towards the sea and continued to gaze at it.

Clear realized, as he sketched out the bumps and curves of him, that Aoba was beautiful. He was elegant, every movement seemingly calculated and graceful, but he was strong and sturdy underneath. Clear also realized that he was selfish to be taking up Aoba's time; Aoba had no reason to associate himself with a repulsive monster like Clear when he could be doing important things with people that mattered.

Clear knew it was selfish, but he didn't care.

*     *     *

Aoba knew how little of the world Clear had actually experienced, so he tried to bring as many new things as he could. Though Aoba had never met Toue, he figured he wasn't a trustworthy source of information (and for Clear, he had been the only source of information). Clear had a new link to life outside of his confined area, and Aoba was going to make sure he introduced Clear to everything worth knowing about.

"What's this, Aoba-san? I've seen people eat it before, but I don't actually know what it is."

"It's an ice cream cone! Ice cream is basically just frozen, sweetened milk, and it comes in different flavours."

"What flavour is this?" Clear asked, having not yet taken a lick.

"Strawberry. I didn't know which flavour to pick, so I just guessed."

"Did you get the pink one because it reminded you of my tail?" Clear giggled.

That was exactly why Aoba had picked the strawberry one. He rolled his eyes, though, and told Clear to eat the ice cream before he shoved his mask in it.

"Um, Aoba-san...could you look away for a moment?"

Taken aback, Aoba asked, "Why?"

Clear cleared his throat. "I have to partially remove my mask to eat this."

"Oh! Sorry. Yeah, of course I can." He turned away and waited for Clear to give him the OK.

"Thank you! You can turn back around now."

"What do you think?"

"It's really good! Thank you for bringing it for me, Aoba-san!"

"Don't mention it."

"I _will_ mention it! My favourite time of day used to be when the dolphins came to visit, but now it's when I get to talk to you!"

Aoba untucked his hair from behind his ear and curled in on himself in an effort to hide his faintly blushing face. "Yeah, I like talking to you, too."

"Really, Aoba-san?" Clear asked. Aoba could hear the smile in his voice even though he couldn't see it.

"Really." He poked Clear's mask where his cheek would have been. Clear's hand came up to rub the spot Aoba had touched.

"That means a lot, Aoba-san. Thank you."

"Yeah." Aoba straightened his posture up. "Now hurry up and eat that before it melts!"

"Yes, sir!"

*     *     *

Clear could hardly believe that this was becoming a regular occurrence. Every day, without fail, Aoba talked to him while he dealt with the lobster traps. Some days he didn't even pull the traps in! He only came to the beach because he wanted to see Clear, and that thought alone made Clear's chest feel all bubbly.

"Good afternoon, Aoba-san! How are you today?"

"I'm alright. I brought you something really cool! It's a little outdated, but I loved playing with it as a kid. Check it out!"

He placed in Clear's hands a plastic, grey rectangular prism with buttons and a screen on its surface. As Clear was trying his hardest to identify it without having to ask any questions, Aoba reached for it and flicked a button on the side.

 _Ba-ling!_ The device made a noise which startled Clear to the point where he almost dropped it in the water.

Aoba laughed at his reaction. "Do you know what it is?"

Clear gave up. "No, Aoba-san."

"It's a Gameboy! People use them to play video games."

Video games! Clear knew about video games! He mentally kicked himself for not recognizing it sooner.

The game was starting up on the little screen. Some intro music played and the word "Battletoads" appeared alongside the image of a tough-looking frog.

"Battletoads?" Clear repeated.

"Yeah! I hated this game as a kid 'cause I could never beat it, but I played it anyway." He nudged Clear with his elbow. "Give it a try!"

There was a brief intro before Clear was in control of the toad.

"What do I do, Aoba-san?"

"Press the arrow buttons to move, and jump with A."

"There are things coming after me! Am I supposed to kill them? I don't want to kill them!"

"You're supposed to kill them! That's the whole point."

"But that's so cruel, Aoba-san!"

The enemies got to the toad and he lost all three of his lives. Clear was given the option to continue, but Aoba just took the Gameboy from him and restarted the game.

"Here, I'll show you how to play."

Aoba was much better at Battletoads than Clear had been. He was killing enemies left and right, and he lasted five whole minutes before he lost a life. Clear watched diligently, mesmerized at how Aoba could be so graceful even while playing as a toad.

*     *     *

Clear had expressed concern over how unfair it was that Aoba was always the one to share things with him when he visited, so one day, Clear had gathered a few items from his underwater home for Aoba to see. Admittedly, Aoba had always been a little curious about how Clear lived in the sea, but he didn't even know where to start asking questions.

"This is what we use for blankets," Clear explained. "I know that humans use ones woven out of softer materials, but because we live in the water, we have to use seaweed."

"What's this used for?" Aoba asked, holding up a small brush-like object.

"That's for cleaning our scales! I'll show you how it works." He demonstrated the process by running the brush between the scales on his tail, effectively clearing the dirt away.

"This is really cool, Clear! I had no idea you guys had stuff like this down there."

"If you want, I could show you my home," Clear offered. "It's not that far underwater; it wouldn't be dangerous for you."

Aoba felt his heart squeeze in his chest and he scooted further back on the rock, closer to the shore. "I appreciate the invite, but I can't go in the water."

Clear's ears lowered in what Aoba assumed was disappointment. "Why not?"

"I, uh..." Aoba looked down, ashamed and embarrassed to be admitting this to Clear. "I'm afraid of the water."

Clear tilted Aoba's chin back up with a finger that was softer than Aoba thought it was going to be. "Don't feel bad, Aoba-san! I don't want you to do anything that would make you uncomfortable. It's alright that you can't go in the water."

Aoba smiled. "Thanks."

"Besides, I still have more things to show you!" He sifted through his bag (made of woven kelp, no less) until he found what he was looking for. After handing Aoba a bundled leaf with something inside, he said, "Merfolk food is different than human food. This is something that my brothers and I eat very often. It's just a mixture of sea plants wrapped together, but since we live in the water, we can't cook anything. Toue-san tried this once and he said he didn't like it, but I wanted to show you anyway."

Despite Clear's warning, Aoba took a bite. It was stringy and kind of slimy from being in the water, but remarkably, he didn't think it was gross. He actually kind of liked it.

"This...actually isn't that bad," Aoba said as he popped the rest of it in his mouth.

"Ehh? R-Really? Toue-san says that humans aren't supposed to like the food that we eat."

Aoba shrugged. "You like the food that I give you, right? Why shouldn't I like what you give me?"

"That does make sense, Aoba-san, but don't you still find it strange?"

Aoba did, kind of, but he didn't think it was worth worrying about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant believe it omg im three chapters into a fic and they havent even kissed yet!!! this is a new record.
> 
> also idk how battletoads got in here lmao


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba spends some time with his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me way longer to write than i intended but i think the chapters after this one will be easier to write lmao

Aoba hadn't really thought much about how his friends might feel in regards to his recent change in behaviour. They all knew how terrified Aoba was of the ocean, so naturally they would wonder why he was spending so much time hanging around it. They had to know something was up, right?

Mizuki was the first to question it.

"You've been spending a lot of time at the beach, Aoba. What gives?"

"I don't know," Aoba said with a shrug. "I just like going down there."

Mizuki's eyes narrowed. "You _like_ going near the ocean? Since when?"

"I don't know!" Aoba repeated. "I still don't wanna go in it, but I like going around it."

"Well, today, we want you to come with us for a change! We're going out to celebrate how successful we've been this month."

Aoba hadn't yet gone to visit Clear, and he knew Clear would be upset if he didn't go see him. He also knew, though, that it would raise suspicions if he ditched his friends to "take a walk on the beach", so he agreed to go with him. He would just have to apologize to Clear when he saw him again.

Mizuki said they were going to a bar to get white girl wasted. Aoba said he would do a maximum of two shots. Things escalated and he wound up taking four.

Drinking was fun, especially with his friends, but Aoba found himself wishing he was with Clear instead. What would Clear be like if he were drunk? He would probably hug everyone at the bar and tell them he loved them.

Clear was Aoba's friend, now, so Aoba didn't find it weird that he wanted to hang out with him. He felt a connection with Clear, like they understood each other on a deeper level, although they didn't know much about each other at all. (Aoba would have to change that.)

Koujaku pulled him out of his reverie with a wave of his hand and a shout of, "Get over here, Aoba! Mink's in a drinking contest!"

Aoba staggered over to the table. Ten shots were lined up on each side. Mink sat on one end of the table, and some asshole in a baseball cap was across from him.

"One...Two...Three...Go!"

Baseball Cap started out fast, taking three of the shots in about ten seconds total. Mink had taken one.

"Come on, man! Hurry up!" Noiz prompted, swatting Mink on the shoulder.

Things weren't looking good. Baseball Cap was up to six, while Mink had downed only three. Everyone was sure it was over for Mink, but suddenly, everything changed.

Baseball Cap started to dry heave.

"I know what I'm doing," Mink said calmly before taking the remaining seven shots, standing up and patting his opponent on the shoulder.

The bar went fucking nuts.

*     *     *

Clear had finally finished colouring his drawing of Aoba looking at the sunset, and he couldn't wait to give it to him! He knew Aoba was going to love it! Clear had worked so hard on it, and it really showed. He had never been so proud of anything in his life!

Usually, Aoba came at around noon, but sometimes he came as late as four or five in the afternoon. Clear checked his watch, noting that it was now two-thirty. Aoba seemed to be running late. To pass the time, Clear flipped through the old encyclopedia he had buried under a rock with his other valuables.

He checked his watch again. Two forty-five.

Clear could only spend so long reading the tiny print on the pages without getting a headache, so he put the book away and pulled his sketchbook out again. He tried drawing a bird that was perched on some flotsam, but he wasn't really feeling it. The only thing he felt like drawing was Aoba, so, using his finished drawing as a reference, he sketched Aoba with all sorts of expressions on his face. Once he had filled a page with doodles, he looked at the time again, finding that it was almost three-thirty.

Three-thirty turned to four, then five, then six. By seven o'clock, Clear had accepted that Aoba wasn't coming.

Toue came that evening, however.

"Good evening, boys! How are you?"

"I'm great!" Alpha Two chirped. "I spent all day talking to the turtles!"

"Clear's probably upset," Alpha One said. "His human didn't come to see him today."

Clear sighed. "Aoba-san was probably just busy. He has a job, and friends, and other things in his life besides me. I understand that he might not be able to visit every day."

"Cheer up, Clear," Toue said. He had likely meant for it to sound encouraging, but it came out more like an order. "Now, let me hear you sing!"

The three mermen had been practising their harmonies, and they were now able to weave their voices together all at once to create a much more powerful sound. Toue was very impressed.

"Very good. Practice it more like that; I think we're really getting somewhere."

While Clear agreed that they created a much more intense song when they sang together, he didn't think it sounded very nice. It sounded kind of menacing, and it made him feel uneasy.

That night, as Clear tried to sleep on the sandy ocean floor, he couldn't take his mind off of the situation with Aoba. What if he hadn't been busy that afternoon? What if Clear just wasn't important enough to him? His budding friendship with Aoba was one of the few things Clear had going on in his life, whereas Clear was just a drop in the bucket to Aoba.

*     *     *

"Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!"

Aoba revved himself up to take another. How many was he at, now? Seven? Eight? Two hundred? It felt like two hundred.

Everyone around him started chanting, "Ao-ba! Ao-ba! Ao-ba!" He took the shot and the small crowd cheered.

With an arm that felt like it weight a hundred kilos, Aoba grabbed Mizuki by the waist and squeezed him in a hug.

"I lu' you, man," he slurred against the fabric of Mizuki's shirt. "Thanks for...making me...you know, getting me to do this. Thanks."

"No problem," Mizuki assured with a chuckle. "Next time, though, I'm capping you at five. You're a little messy right now."

Aoba's motor functions slowly deteriorated as the night went on. By the time they were heading home, Mink had Aoba in a piggyback hold.

"It...z'not my fault, guys..." Aoba mumbled. "Made me drink too much."

"Sure, sure," Koujaku said. "We're the ones that forced twelve shots of Jager down your throat."

Aoba's friends -- all four of them -- had to help him brush his teeth and get into bed. He was asleep before they left his bedroom.

His dreams were surprisingly vivid (which they usually were after a night of drinking). He dreamt of fish and birds and his parents whom he hadn't seen in a while. He even dreamt of Clear, though he had legs in his dream. They were walking along the beach and it kind of seemed like a date, which made dream-Aoba embarrassed.

Of course, the night wasn't complete without an obligatory ocean-related nightmare. Aoba was aware that he was dreaming, which made the experience only slightly less terrifying. He was in the water with no land in sight, and he was trying to stay afloat but he didn't really know how and _oh God help me help help help I can't stay above the surface I can't swim like this help me help me someone please help me --_

Aoba jolted awake, gasping for air. He had no memory of ever swimming in the ocean, so he didn't know how his mind was capable of painting such a convincing image of it. The dream had left him so shaken up that he was reluctant to go down to the shore to see Clear, but he also didn't want to let him down two days in a row, so he sucked it up and got out of bed.

"Aoba! You're alive!" Koujaku greeted him when he entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, I'm alive."

"We weren't sure if you'd wake up this morning. You went pretty hard last night," Mizuki said.

"I did?"

"Yeah, you made out with Noiz." Mizuki took a moment to laugh. "And Mink. And half the other guys at the bar."

"Including me," Koujaku added. "Well, you tried to, at least. I pushed you away."

"What a gentleman," Mizuki sighed, batting his eyelashes mockingly.

When Aoba went to see Clear, he was wearing sunglasses and earmuffs in an effort to dull his senses. His head was throbbing and everything was irritating to him.

"Hey, Clear," He called in as soft a voice as he could manage.

"Aoba-san! Where were you last night?"

"I'm really sorry that I didn't show up. My friends dragged me out with them before I could come see you. I wanted to visit, though, believe me."

"It's alright, Aoba-san. I understand that you have a life!"

Right now, Clear was pretty much the only interesting thing Aoba had going on, but he was too embarrassed to admit that to him. After all, Clear probably talked to sharks and whales and shit. Aoba was just a guy who sliced fish for a living.

"I promise I won't do that again. Not for a while, at least. Every so often, my friends make me drink with them, and I can't really tell them no."

"Drink? As in drinking alcohol?"

"Yeah. Have you ever drank before?"

"Never! I don't think it's a good idea for me to do that, anyway. What if I fell asleep on the sand and my tail dried out? I would be like a beached whale."

Aoba laughed. "You're not that big, Clear."

"Why are you dressed like that, Aoba-san?"

"That's another reason why you shouldn't drink. The morning after you do it, you get a really bad headache and you feel sick."

"Oh, I'm sorry you don't feel well, Aoba-san. You don't have to stay if you don't want to! I will understand."

"No, it's fine. It isn't that bad." Aoba sat beside Clear on the rock. "What did you do last night?"

Clear shrugged. "I waited for you to come, Aoba-san."

Aoba felt his stomach drop. "I'm sorry!"

"No, no, I didn't mean to make you feel bad! That's just what I was doing last night. Until Toue-san came, at least."

"Is Toue still being mean to you?"

"Ehh, I wouldn't say Toue-san is mean. He's very strict and authoritative, but that doesn't make him mean." He paused. "That being said, he is still being mean, Aoba-san."

"Have you ever thought about leaving?"

"What do you mean, 'leaving', Aoba-san?"

"You know, like, swimming away."

"I could never abandon my brothers! As much as it would be nice to escape, I doubt they would want to come with me, and I wouldn't want to leave them. They're my family."

Aoba swung his feet idly. "I guess I can understand that. I don't really like my job, but I know that my friends need me to be a part of their crew, so I keep doing it."

"Yes, that's how I feel!"

"It kinda sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yes, Aoba-san, it kind of sucks."

Clear was like an escape for Aoba from the boring reality of his day-to-day life. Aoba realized that he probably filled the same role for Clear.

He shook his head a little bit, trying to enjoy the time spent with Clear rather than getting lost in his thoughts. "Anyway, I brought something interesting with me today."

"You don't have to bring something every day, you know! Aoba-san by himself is more than interesting enough."

Aoba laughed. "Thanks. Still, I brought something I think you'll like."

He dug around in his bag, ultimately pulling out a plastic bird toy.

"A fake bird! What does it do?"

"Watch." Aoba placed the beak of the bird on his index finger and let it balance like that. The bird didn't fall.

"That's incredible, Aoba-san! How are you doing that?"

"It's not me; it's the bird! It can balance on anything." He let the bird hand off the mouthpiece of Clear's gas mask. "See? It does it on its own."

"Ooh, I see how it works now, Aoba-san. It's because of the way its body is shaped, right?"

"Right!"

Clear sighed, and the sound was wistful. "Sometimes I wish I were half-bird instead of the way I am."

"Half-bird _and_ half-fish?" Aoba chuckled at the picture in his head.

"No, Aoba-san, you silly goose! I meant half-bird and half-human. Birds are so free; they can go anywhere they want, as long as the climate permits. Meanwhile, I'm stuck here. The ocean gets boring after a while, you know? Too much water. It all looks the same."

Aoba felt a tug in his chest as he listened to Clear's lament. He patted him on the back and said, "I know. It's not fair that you have to be stuck here."

"I'm lucky that I have you, Aoba-san. When you're with me, I don't feel like I'm wasting my life away. I feel like I have something to live for." Clear sounded like he was smiling.

Aoba's throat felt tight, so he coughed to loosen it. "Yeah, I, uh...I guess I feel the same way."

Clear sat up straighter. "Really, Aoba-san?"

Aoba smiled. "Really."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is absolute agony to write chapter after chapter and have them not be in love with each other......  
> omg i hate this (jk i love it)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clear is curious about human life. Aoba tries to teach him as best he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not gonna lie i love this chapter so much

"Aoba-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh...there are lots of things I don't know about being human. I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?"

Aoba shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Okay. So, first of all, I would like to know how it feels to walk."

Aoba blinked. "Um. I'm not sure that's the kinda thing I can explain to someone who's never done it, but it's, like...I don't know, your whole body keeps itself upright and you feel a bit of pressure in your knees while you move. If you do it long enough, you start to feel a burn in your muscles."

Clear hummed. "I see. So is running like that, only faster?"

"Yeah, and you get out of breath and your muscles burn sooner. You can only run for a little while before you get tired."

"I understand it better now! I hope this next question doesn't make you uncomfortable, but...what is it like to date someone as a human? Toue says that, as merpeople, we can only fall in love with other merpeople, and it only happens to us once. The feeling is always mutual, and it is very strong. It's kind of like having what humans call a 'soulmate'."

"Has it happened to you?"

"No, not yet. I have met every mermaid around the island, but I have never felt any kind of attraction to them. Is that weird?"

"I don't think that's weird. Dating as a human isn't as intense as it sounds like it is for you guys. It usually takes a while for things to become that serious."

Clear nodded slowly. "So, have you ever had a girlfriend, Aoba-san?"

Aoba couldn't help but laugh. "No, I've never had a girlfriend, Clear. I've had boyfriends before, but never any girlfriends."

Clear was silent for a few seconds. "Y-You've had boyfriends, Aoba-san?"

"Yeah. I'm gay."

Clear paused again. "You're...what? What does that mean?"

"Some people only have interest in people of the same gender, and I'm one of those people."

"There's a word for that? It's a real thing?"

"Of course it is! Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. I've been attracted to other mermen before, but I thought I was just weird or something."

"So you're gay, too?"

"I guess I am! I didn't even know that was an option!"

"Toue never told you about that?"

Clear shook his head.

 _Oh my God. You poor, sweet, misled child._ Aoba's heart ached.

"Well, yeah, being gay is a thing. There are lots of things people can be."

"I had no idea! Thank you so much for teaching me about this, Aoba-san. If it weren't for you, I never would have learned any of that!"

"Do you have any more questions?"

"Yes! I have hundreds and hundreds of questions, but I don't need to ask you right now. Do you have anything you would like to ask me?"

"Uh...yeah, actually. How do you breathe underwater? I don't see any gills."

"Oh, I do have gills!" He dragged his finger over the side of his ribcage. "They're hidden in my scales."

Aoba knew Clear didn't wear clothes, obviously, because he didn't have anything indecent that needed to stay covered. He had never noticed how...well, how hot he was, though. It was probably due to all the swimming, but Clear was fucking _jacked._ He had scales on the sides of his torso and the backs of his arms, but they tapered off, leaving his upper body looking almost entirely human. Aoba's eyes lingered on his body longer than he should have let them.

Aoba swallowed before speaking again. "Oh. Okay. So do you, like, die when you're not in the water anymore?"

"Yes! Toue says that if we let our tails get dry, we will die."

"Huh. That's kinda scary, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is a bit troublesome at times, but --"

Aoba cut him off. "Could you leave the water for a few seconds as long as your tail was still wet?"

Clear scratched the front of his mask. "I suppose I could."

"So if I brought a big fish tank, I could, like, wheel you around town?"

"Um. Yes? Hypothetically. But I don't know if that's a good idea, Aoba-san. What if someone sees us and we get in trouble?"

"We won't get in trouble! There's no law against that. If you're worried, though, we could do it at night."

"You would do that?"

"Yeah! That'd be so cool, don't you think?"

Aoba had no idea where he was going to find a giant fish tank. He placed an ad in the newspaper, hoping someone would be able to help him out.

Someone did.

"You want a giant fish tank, eh? I've got you covered."

"Fantastic!" Aoba said into the receiver. "When can I pick it up?"

"Swing by my fruit stand tomorrow afternoon. I'll have it ready."

It seemed pretty sketchy, but Aoba was down for it. The seller turned out to be an old man who worked at the market. Aoba had bought fruit from him before, and he was...eccentric, but Aoba was grateful for his assistance.

"How much do you want for it?"

"You can have it for free! I've got dozens of these things laying around."

"You have...dozens of these?"

"Don't ask too many questions, son."

Aoba wheeled the giant fish tank away on a cart. He took it down to the shoreline later that night. They had planned to meet up at their usual spot at midnight.

"Clear?"

"I'm here, Aoba-san!"

Aoba scooped the seawater into the tank with a bucket he had brought. Once it was sufficiently full, he reached down to pick Clear up in his arms.

"Hold onto me," Aoba told him. "I don't know if I'm strong enough to carry you for very long."

He wasn't, but he managed to give Clear the boost he needed to climb into the fish tank.

"Oh my gosh! Aoba-san, I'm out of the ocean! Oh, thank you so much!" Clear's voice was thick, as if he were crying.

Aoba shook his head and chuckled. "You haven't even seen the rest of the island yet!"

Aoba pushed Clear around on the wheeled cart, showing him all the places he went on a regular basis and describing them.

"This is the bar I went to with my friends last week, and this is where I go to buy groceries."

Clear was holding himself halfway out of the tank so he could see better. "This is so exciting, Aoba-san! I've always wanted to see the places that you talk about."

"In a few minutes, you'll be able to see my house."

"I'll be able to see Aoba-san's house! I might faint."

Aoba didn't see why Clear found this so interesting; it was just all the regular stuff he saw every day. To Clear, though, it was all brand new, so that must have been why he was so emotional.

Clear freaked out when he saw Aoba's house. He asked Aoba if he could see inside, but Aoba said the tank was too big to fit through the door (which was half-true. The other half of the truth was that his housemates would probably see them and go nuts).

Once Aoba had shown Clear all there was to see, he stopped pushing the tank and prepared to start moving it in the other direction. He paused in his actions when he heard Clear start to speak.

"Aoba-san...there was something else I meant to ask you today."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering...what is it like to kiss someone?"

Aoba blushed at his question. "It's hard to describe. If you like the person a lot, it's really good, and it makes you feel warm inside."

Clear was quiet for a second. "I wish I could know what that feels like."

The street they were in was empty save for the two of them -- it must have been nearly two in the morning -- so Aoba reached for Clear's mask. Clear backed away.

"A-Aoba-san, what are you doing?"

"I won't take it off all the way, Clear. Do you trust me?"

A few seconds passed, but Clear eventually relaxed and leaned forward again. Aoba loosened the straps of his mask enough to slide it up. Most of his face was still covered, and it was too dark to really see what his mouth and chin looked like, but there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as he could tell.

Aoba leaned forward slowly, inch by anxious inch, giving Clear ample time to back away. Clear didn't try to.

"This is what it feels like," Aoba whispered before pressing his lips to Clear's. His heart beat frantically in his ears when Clear kissed back, tentatively working his cold lips against Aoba's and cupping his face with his hands. Aoba was very shocked when Clear licked across the seam of his lips -- he hadn't even known what kissing was like, so how had he known to do that? Regardless, Aoba parted his lips, giving Clear room to explore.

Clear was actually good at kissing, despite having never done it before. Aoba got more and more lightheaded as their kiss went on and he felt like he would float away from the ground if Clear hadn't been holding onto him. They kissed deeper and deeper and deeper until Aoba unfortunately had to break away for air. Clear may have been able to breathe with his gills, but Aoba relied solely on his lungs.

They stayed with their lips within millimetres of each other for a few seconds. With the way Clear's mask was pulled up, Aoba realized that he musn't have been able to see anything. Aoba also realized that Clear's hands were still tenderly holding his face.

"What did you think of that?" Aoba asked as quietly as he could, terrified of breaking their fragile bubble of closeness.

"It was nice, Aoba-san." Clear was speaking softly, too, as if he felt the same way. "It was better than I imagined it would be."

Aoba considered kissing Clear again, but he didn't want to be presumptuous; sure, Clear had kissed back pretty passionately, but that didn't mean anything. Clear was a very passionate person.

So Aoba pulled away and stood up straight again. Clear immediately fixed his mask back over his face, and Aoba found himself wishing he had a mask to cover his face with. He couldn't believe he had just kissed Clear _(with tongue)!_

(More importantly, he couldn't believe how much he had enjoyed it.)

"We should get you back home now, right? I don't want you getting in trouble."

"That's a good idea, Aoba-san."

Aoba pushed him back to the beach, listening with amusement as Clear oohed and ahhed at everything he saw. He was like a kid in a toy store. Aoba thought it was cute.

After Aoba had helped Clear get back into the ocean, he emptied the tank out and prepared to leave.

"Goodnight, Clear. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Aoba-san! Thank you for taking me out. That was the most fun I've ever had in my whole life!"

Aoba scruffed up the hair on the back of Clear's head affectionately. "I had fun, too."

*      *      *

The next morning, Clear was thrumming with energy. He was so excited that he had done something so cool with Aoba, and he had a lot of difficulty refraining from talking about it.

But his good mood went out the window when Toue came around.

"Clear."

"Yes, Master?"

"I know what you did last night."

Clear blanched. His night out with Aoba had been so incredible that he hadn't even thought of the repercussions. "I-I-I'm very sorry, Master."

"You are absolutely forbidden from leaving this ocean. Do you know how dangerous that was? How irresponsible?! You're lucky that tank was full of ocean water; otherwise you'd be dead right now!" Toue kicked the sand and a few pebbles hit Clear in the mask. "That human of yours doesn't know what he could have been responsible for."

"Please, Master --"

"Why do you call me 'Master' if you refuse to obey me?" He took a whistle out of his pocket and blew into it. The sound pierced Clear's ears and made him flinch. "I'm calling for reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?" Alpha Two repeated.

"Yes. You're going to need help when you put Clear in the cage."

"In the c-cage?" Clear was so petrified that he felt his body start to sink. He had never been put in the cage before -- Toue may have been angry with him in the past, but he had never been _that_ angry. The notion of being trapped underwater was terrifying.

"What you did was unacceptable, Clear. You need to reflect on that."

A few minutes later, several merpeople came swimming over. They only ever came into contact with each other when it was necessary; Toue would blow his whistle and every nearby merperson would come as soon as they could.

Clear didn't protest when Beta Three, a purple-haired mermaid with whom Clear used to share gardening tips, held his arms behind his back. Someone else shackled him up.

"How long is he staying under for, Master?" One of the Deltas asked.

"One week."

Clear was glad he had his face covered so Toue wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

As his fellow merpeople forced him into the cage and locked him up, Clear resigned himself to his fate. It was only seven days, right? That wasn't so bad. Toue had been known to put merpeople in the cage for a year. What they could have done to deserve that degree of punishment, Clear didn't know. He was just grateful it wasn't happening to him. His arms hurt from being cuffed together, and he could hardly move because he was chained to a metal rod in the centre of the cage, but at least it was only a week.

It was dark under the water, but it was still early in the afternoon. Aoba would be coming soon.

Clear wondered if Aoba would miss him while he was gone.

The Alphas came to see him later that evening (at least, Clear thought it was evening. He was having trouble telling what time it was).

"Hey, Clear!" Alpha One said. "How's the cage?"

Clear glared at him, though it was pointless since he couldn't see it. "Why did you tell Toue-san that I was with Aoba-san last night?"

"What? I didn't tell him."

"I didn't, either," Alpha Two said meekly. Clear hadn't suspected him, anyway; out of the two Alphas, Alpha Two was the kinder one. He wouldn't have done something like that to anyone, especially not his own brother.

This left Clear confused. "How did he find out?"

Alpha One shrugged. "Beats me."

"I didn't even know you left last night."

Clear furrowed his brow in confusion. "Come to think of it, Toue-san knew the tank had been filled with ocean water. He wouldn't have known that unless he had been there to see it, but he wasn't. It was just me and Aoba-san."

"Maybe Aoba-san told him," Alpha Two suggested.

"Absolutely not," Clear said firmly, shaking his head. "Aoba-san wants nothing to do with Toue-san."

"Or," Alpha One said, "Toue could have been watching you."

"Why would Toue-san watch me and Aoba-san?"

"Well, why wouldn't he? He doesn't trust Aoba. Or you, for that matter."

"Speaking of Aoba-san," Alpha Two cut in, trying to brighten the atmosphere, "He came to see you. I told him you were in the cage."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'The cage? What's that?' and I said, 'It's like a prison for merpeople.' and he said, 'Is he gonna be down there forever?!' and he sounded really upset, so I told him that you were gonna be down here for a week. So he said he would come back in a week. He didn't sound happy about it, though."

"Oh." Clear felt bad for upsetting Aoba. If only he hadn't been so selfish last night...

Then Clear remembered the events from the night before and he didn't feel bad anymore. _Aoba-san kissed me! With tongue!_ Clear knew that Aoba had only done it to show him what kissing was like, but it still made his heartbeat thump when he thought about it. _I kissed Aoba-san! My first kiss was with Aoba-san!_

He wanted to scream when he thought about having to wait a whole week to see him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're getting there lol


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clear is freed from both of Toue's cages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is rated T for Totally Fucking Lame

Aoba had had enough of this asshole who thought he could push Clear around -- he wanted to find out more about him. Or anything about him, really. All Aoba knew was his name.

He opened his computer and went to Google, typing "toue midorijima" into the search bar. Aoba didn't know what he expected to find, honestly. It was weird, though, that Toue cared so much about the merfolk for no discernible reason, right? Aoba certainly thought so.

Nothing came up. What was weird, though, was that there _were_ results -- Google simply informed him that they had been removed. Aoba was sure that only the government was able to censor the search results, which caught him off guard. Why would Toue go to such lengths to protect his information? What did he have to hide?

He knew who would be able to help him, though.

"Hey, Noiz?"

Noiz cracked his gum. "Yeah? What do you want?"

"You're good at computer stuff, right?"

"Good? You think I'm _good_ at computer stuff?" He cackled. "I'm the fuckin'...uh...computer wizard. Yeah. I'm so good at computer stuff, man. Why? You need something?"

"I was wondering if you could do a background check on someone for me."

"No problem." He tapped at his keyboard for a while and waited for a few things to load. "What's their name?"

"Toue. T-O-U-E."

"Is that the first or last name?"

"Uh...I dunno."

"Okay. Address?"

"I...don't know that, either."

"Age? Gender?"

"Uh...he's a guy, I think? I dunno how old."

"Are you fucking kidding me? You expect me to find someone with only half their name and their maybe-gender to go off?"

"Can you at least try? Toue can't be a common name!"

Noiz sighed. "Yeah, sure, fine. Gimme a couple days, though."

A couple of days? Aoba hated having to wait. He already had to wait an entire goddamn _week_ to see Clear.

Thinking about Clear reminded Aoba that he was trapped under the water, alone and probably scared. Clear was incredibly social; he thrived off of communication. Aoba couldn't imagine how upset Clear must have been to be isolated. It broke his heart.

After Clear's brother had told Aoba about the cage, Aoba had been ready to dive under the water and see him. He had actually managed to take a step into the sea, but he got dizzy and his foot started to tingle as if it was going numb. Though he wanted to make Clear feel better more than anything, he was too scared to go in the water. After an hour of trying to go in past his feet, he had to quit. He wasn't getting anywhere.

Still, he went back the next day in case Clear somehow got out, but he was nowhere in sight. Poor Clear! Aoba glared down at the waves, angry that they held him captive. Where did Toue get off putting Clear in a cage, anyway? He wasn't an animal (well...not _entirely_ ) so he shouldn't be treated like one. Aoba wondered if Clear missed him, too. Especially after --

"Oh my God," Aoba mumbled to himself in embarrassment as he smooshed his face with his hands. He _kissed_ Clear! That was a thing that happened!

It wouldn't do either of them any good for Aoba to just stand there, cursing the water, so he left to run some errands in an effort to take his mind off of it.

While he was debating between two different types of cheese at the grocery store, something caught his eye: a tiny little jellyfish pendant on a silver chain, hanging by a window. He put it in his basket without really thinking about it.

As he walked to the checkout desk, though, he started to rethink it. Would it be weird to give it to Clear? There was no doubt that Clear would absolutely love it, but...well...Aoba wasn't his boyfriend or anything, even though they had -- _eek!_ \-- kissed only a few days ago. He thought it might send Clear the wrong message.

(It wasn't the wrong message if it was true, though, right?)

*     *     *

After a week of silent brooding in his underwater prison, Clear was being released! It took a few minutes for his brothers to figure out the lock, and it took even longer for them to unchain him, but it didn't bother Clear! He was just so happy to be free again.

It felt so good to be free from the cage that Clear just _had_ to sing! He sang and sang and sang all day until he saw Aoba approaching.

"Clear!" He called before breaking into a sprint.

Clear waved his arms. "Aoba-saaan!"

Aoba sat beside him like he usually did, but he shocked Clear by hugging him.

"I missed you," Aoba whispered.

"I missed you, too, Aoba-san." Clear knew his voice sounded weak, but it was only because he was so surprised (and embarrassed at the butterflies in his gut).

"I can't believe you had to stay in there for a whole week," Aoba said. "I would have gone down to see you, but..."

Clear smiled and squeezed Aoba tighter. "I understand, Aoba-san. It's not your fault."

"Was it scary?"

"Being in the cage? I suppose it was a little bit scary, but I'm so tough that it hardly bothered me at all!"

Aoba pulled back so he could narrow his eyes at Clear. "You cried, didn't you?"

Clear laughed and nodded."Yes, I did, Aoba-san."

Aoba didn't let go of Clear for what must have been at least thirty minutes, and when he finally did, he said it was because his back was starting to hurt.

"Oh! I just remembered," Aoba said, looking in his pockets. "I understand if you can't take it because you think you'll get in trouble, or something, but I got something for you." He handed Clear a small white box.

Clear took the lid off. Inside, sitting on a blue piece of foam, was a tiny silver jellyfish on a chain.

"You don't have to wear it if you don't want to," Aoba added. "I just thought...I mean, you like jellyfish, so I thought you'd like it."

Clear felt like his head was going to explode. Aoba had seen this necklace and thought of him! _I matter to Aoba-san!_ He felt like he could swim all the way to Australia.

"I love it! Thank you so much, Aoba-san! It's so cute."

"Do you want me to help you put it on?"

"Yes, please!"

Aoba lifted the chain out of the box and shifted on the rock so he was sitting behind Clear. Clear could hear Aoba fiddling with the clasp for a few seconds before he felt him bringing the necklace around the front of his neck. The metal felt cold against his skin, but Clear figured he would get used to it. There was a little clicking noise and then Clear felt Aoba let go of the necklace.

"There! It's done." Aoba slid his hands over Clear's shoulders, then brought them around to centre the jellyfish pendant. His hands were warm and soft, and Clear could feel Aoba's chest gently pressing against his back. The physical contact made his throat feel dry.

Clear looked down and saw the jellyfish hanging in the dip between his collarbones. More importantly, though, Aoba's fingers were running along the chain around his neck, making Clear's heartbeat sound in his ears.

"There's something I wanted to give to you, too, Aoba-san. Please wait a moment!"

He sifted through the sand until he found the drawing of Aoba he had done several weeks ago. He presented it with a smile that Aoba couldn't see.

Aoba's eyes were wide as he looked at it. "Oh my God, Clear, this is...beautiful! When did you do this?"

"A little while ago. I didn't ask you if it was okay when I was drawing you, but I didn't think you would mind."

"I don't mind at all! Is this really how you see me?"

"I just drew what I saw, Aoba-san. You looked beautiful."

Aoba stiffened, and Clear feared he had made a mistake with his wording. _Why did I call him that? I'm so stupid!_

"You think I'm beautiful?" Aoba was blushing.

"Yes, I do. Do you not want to be beautiful?"

"N-No, that's not it, it's just...I've never been called beautiful before."

"Neither have I! But now you have, Aoba-san. It's a shame nobody told you sooner."

"I'm sure you're beautiful, too, Clear. All the parts of you I can see are beautiful."

"Really, Aoba-san?"

"Yeah! Your tail is really pretty, and so are the scales on your body. Even your big ears are nice," he said as he gently tugged on one of Clear's fin-like ears.

"Aoba-san..." Clear chided, though he knew his tone sounded more fond than anything.

"I mean it. You don't have to show me your face until you're ready, and maybe that means I'll never see it, but I don't want you to feel bad about the way you look."

Clear felt his whole face lighting up under his mask.

*     *     *

The topic of Clear's face came up several days later.

"Do you really think I have a normal face, Aoba-san?"

Aoba looked at Clear where he thought his eyes would be. "Yeah, I do, so why do you still keep it hidden? Don't you believe me?"

"I believe you, but..." Clear ducked his head a little bit. "You're my best friend, Aoba-san. I don't want to lose you. I know that whatever I have under this mask will make you want to stop coming to see me, and I couldn't bear to have you not in my life anymore."

Aoba had friends that he had known for years, like Koujaku and Mizuki. They were definitely two of his closest friends, but he didn't have the same connection with them as he did with Clear. So he felt confident in saying, "I don't want to lose my best friend, either, so I wouldn't leave you."

Clear straightened himself up again. "I-I'm your best friend, Aoba-san?"

"Yeah, you are, so I'm not gonna be critical of you."

"You promise that you won't come to hate me, Aoba-san?"

"I would never hate you, Clear. I've enjoyed being with you up until now, and I'll still like you, even if you look like a pickle."

Clear giggled. "What if I have a squid for a face?"

"That would be fucking awesome."

Aoba held his breath as Clear, with obvious reluctance and shaking hands, slowly unbuckled his mask. He turned his head down towards his lap as he pulled it off, then looked up to face Aoba.

"Shit," Aoba cursed under his breath.

"What?" Clear's perfect fucking brow furrowed, and his beautiful, bright eyes filled with worry. "Is it really bad? I'm sorry you had to look!"

"No, it's, uh... Your face is totally fine. Normal. You look like a human."

Clear still looked terrified. "Really?"

"Yeah. Do you wanna see yourself?"

"No, I can't! Can you describe it to me?"

Aoba swallowed. "Um, okay. Your hair and eyebrows are white, and your face is shaped like an oval, but you have kind of a squarer jaw than I do. And your nose is...uh, it kinda sticks out further than mine, but it's a little bit narrower." He traced it with his finger. "Your lips are probably the same size as mine, but your mouth is wider. And your skin is pale, like the inside of your arm, and there are no marks or anything. But you've got two moles right here," he said, tapping each one with his thumb. "And, um, your eyes are pink, and they're...uh, almond-shaped, I guess. Kind of like mine. Except pink. And they're really expressive; I can see your emotions in them."

Clear looked to be on the verge of tears. "Is it okay?"

"It's better than okay, actually. I think you have a nicer face than I do."

Clear smiled and his tears spilled over. "That's impossible! Nobody has a nicer face than Aoba-san." He tugged Aoba into his arms and squeezed him with remarkable force.

"You have a nicer face than Aoba-san."

"Stop saying that!" Clear protested. He was squishing his cheek against Aoba's, but then they both turned their heads at the same time and they wound up face-to-face with their noses touching.

_Ahh! We're within kissing distance!_

Aoba looked straight into Clear's (positively stunning) eyes and Clear looked back at him. He looked kind of worried, and Aoba wondered why until he realized that his own eyebrows were knitting together. He relaxed his brow and smiled, and then Clear smiled, too.

After a deep breath, Aoba made the first move and leaned his face in, tilting it slightly so their lips were _very_ close. He could hear Clear's unsteady breathing.

"Aoba-san," he whispered, "I forgot what kissing is like. Do you think you could show me again?"

Aoba laughed and his eyelids fluttered shut. Clear was just too precious! "Yes, I can show you."

Aoba's heart sped up as the distance between them shrank and the anticipation built. When their lips finally touched, he felt like an electric current was running through his veins; he looped his arms around Clear's shoulders and melted into him. Clear held him around the waist with one hand and tangled the other in his hair, holding him closely. It was so soft and tender and... _loving,_ and Aoba got a warm feeling that started in his chest and radiated through his body. It wasn't entirely unwelcome.

Clear pulled back to catch his breath, and Aoba could see that his eyes were unfocused and he had a heavy blush on his cheeks. He looked so irresistible that Aoba dragged him back in.

After what must have been five solid minutes of kissing, they broke off and out of each other's hold.

Aoba cleared his throat, tucking his hair behind his ear. "Was that helpful?"

Clear giggled. "I remembered how to do it once we started, Aoba-san, but I didn't want to stop. I like kissing you."

That would have sent Aoba in a tizzy had he not known that it was impossible for Clear to have feelings for him. Besides, it's not like Aoba _liked_ Clear, or anything...or thought he was cute...or maybe wanted to kiss him again...

_No, no, no, no, no, no!_

"I like kissing you, too," Aoba said before he could stop himself.

Clear grinned and his eyes lit up. "Really, Aoba-san? Am I good at it?"

"Yeah, you're good at it."

Clear's tail curled up from under the water. "I'm so happy! I feel so much lighter now that I've shown you my face, Aoba-san."

Being able to see Clear's expressions as he spoke was mesmerizing, and Aoba felt like he'd been cheated out of all the times he could have been watching him when he had instead been looking at a gas mask. Clear had nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, his face was something he should be proud of. It was a crime to hide it from the world.

"You had nothing to worry about, Clear." Aoba felt his cheeks burn as he said, "Your face is beautiful."

Clear's eyes widened. "I'm...b-beautiful, Aoba-san?"

"Yeah."

Clear tackled him in another hug with enough strength to push them flat against the rock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omfg


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba and Clear discuss their feelings (separately, of course).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o m g tumblr user clearlypissed drew [this](http://clearlypissed.tumblr.com/post/123740734558/based-on-skittybittys-come-hell-or-high-water) and im still losing my fucking mind over it (i made it my desktop background) so go check it out!!
> 
> also enjoy the chapter

When Clear waved at Aoba and said, "Good morning, Aoba-saaan!", Aoba knew he was toast. Clear had got Aoba wrapped around his pinky finger, and he didn't even know it.

"Good morning, Clear. I, uh, brought you something."

"Oh, Aoba-san, you're so sweet! Always thinking of me."

Aoba blushed. "Yeah, whatever. It's just a cookie. I bought one for myself, but I figured you'd want one, too."

Clear partially unhooked his mask and stuck a broken-off piece of cookie in his mouth.

"Why are you still wearing that?"

"My mask?"

"Yeah."

Clear shrugged. "It's mostly out of habit, though it does make me feel more calm. Also, if Toue-san or my brothers saw me without it, I'd probably be put in the cage forever!"

"Can't you take it off when you're with me?"

Clear paused, then nodded. "I can do that, Aoba-san." He slid his mask off and Aoba's breath caught in his throat.

_Shit. I like him. I like him a lot._

"Are you alright, Aoba-san? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"N-No, I'm fine. I'm just...still surprised when I see your face."

"You said it was normal, right?"

"Yeah, it is. But it's more than just normal, you know."

Clear put his hands on his cheeks and giggled. "Oh, Aoba-san! You sure know the way to a merman's heart."

_Not well enough, apparently._

They fell silent as they ate their cookies. Clear ate slowly, but Aoba was finished in only a few minutes. He swallowed the last bite and brought up something that he had wanted to talk to Clear about for a while.

"What do you know about Toue?"

Clear paused to finish chewing. "Not much, Aoba-san. His full name is Toue Tatsuo, and he hasn't lived in Midorijima his whole life. I don't know when or why he came here."

"What is he doing with you guys? He makes you sing; is there a reason for that?"

"He never answered me in the past when I asked him, so eventually I just stopped."

"Don't you ever wonder?"

"Yes, of course I do, Aoba-san, but wondering won't do any good."

Aoba twiddled his thumbs. "I asked my friend Noiz to do a background check on him."

Clear's tone was wary. "Um, Aoba-san, I don't know if that's a good idea. Toue-san is a very private kind of person; he won't be happy if he finds out about it. Besides, what will you do with the information you find?"

"I'm not really sure. I guess it depends on what Noiz can tell me about him."

Clear hummed contemplatively. "Once he tells you, will you pass it on to me? I've always been curious about him. I promise I won't tell anyone else!"

Aoba shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

*     *     *

Surprisingly enough, Aoba was not the first human Clear had fraternized with -- he was the second. The first one had been an old man, and the event had taken place several years ago, when Clear was still a child. He had asked Clear several questions about himself and he had swabbed the inside of his mouth for what he claimed were "scientific purposes." Clear was fascinated by him, sure; he had thought the old man was the coolest thing he had seen thus far, but he hadn't felt the same way about him as he now felt about Aoba.

This was the source of Clear's confusion.

As he helped Alpha Two clear the dead zebra mussels off the walls of the undersea cove they used as their home, he couldn't help but ask him about it.

"Um, Alpha, have you ever had weird feelings about someone?"

"Like, in a bad way?"

"No, no, not bad feelings, just...weird feelings. For example, wanting to smile and laugh when you see the person without there being anything funny to laugh at. Or wanting to learn everything about them, even the boring stuff that doesn't matter."

"Do you want to spend a lot of time with this person?"

"Yes! I'm almost always thinking about them. No matter what I'm doing, I imagine what it would be like if they were there doing it with me."

Alpha hummed. "You said these weren't bad feelings. Are they good feelings? Do you feel good when you're with them?"

"Definitely! Ao -- uh, they make me very happy. Just listening to them talk brightens my day."

"Are you physically attracted to them?"

"W-What? Why does that matter?"

"It matters. Are you?"

"Um...yes, I am, but --"

"Do you want to hold their hand? Do you wish you could kiss them?"

"Alpha!" Clear scolded. "What does that have to do with this?"

Alpha laughed. "I think you're in love, Clear. You must have found your soulmate."

"I couldn't have found my soulmate! The person I was talking about is a human. Merfolk and humans cannot fall in love with each other."

"Maybe Toue was wrong about that. He's right about a lot of things, but he could have been wrong about that."

"But, Alpha...how could I be in love? I've never been in love before!"

"Doesn't mean you can't start now. Who are they, anyway? Is it Aoba-san?"

Clear blushed, grateful that his mask hid his reaction. "Maybe. What should I do?"

"You could tell him you like him."

"B-But what if he doesn't like me?"

Alpha hummed in thought. "Maybe you could show him with actions instead of words?"

"How do I do that?"

"Well, he gave you that necklace, right?"

Clear instinctively touched the jellyfish around his neck. "Yes, he did."

"Why don't you give him something like that? You have that box full of shiny things. There's probably something in there that you could give him."

"Do you think that would work?"

"He'll probably get the hint if you do that."

Clear considered doing it, but the thought alone made his stomach burn with nerves. _I'll do it,_ he thought. _Just not today._

*     *     *

It was evening, almost time for bed, so Aoba was sitting on the couch and watching TV. Mizuki had been sitting with him, but he got up to go to the washroom and Koujaku took his place.

"Hey, Koujaku?"

"Yeah?"

"Um...you've dated a lot of people, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have. Why?"

"Well, it's just that I like someone, but it would be hard for us to be together. Have you ever been in a situation like that?"

Koujaku was quiet for a couple of seconds. "Yeah, I've liked someone before that I knew I wouldn't be able to have."

"Did you tell them?”

“No. I considered it, but I knew they didn’t feel the same way. It would have just complicated things.”

“So what did you do about it?”

Aoba tried to make eye contact, but Koujaku wouldn't look at him.

"Nothing. I got over it and moved on."

"But I don't wanna move on!"

Koujaku sighed. "Sometimes you just have to, Aoba."

"What if he likes me back?"

"Does he?"

Aoba paused. "I don't know."

"You can't force someone to like you if they don't."

"B-But..."

"I know how it feels, Aoba, and it sucks, but it'll suck a lot less when you don't care about it anymore. You'll find someone else and you’ll like them instead, and it'll stop hurting."

"How am I supposed to be around him and not feel the way I feel?"

"I don't know, but after a while, it'll get easier."

Aoba sighed. "Did you end up finding someone else?"

Koujaku smiled a little bit, and it looked like he wanted to smile more but he was holding back. "I did. I'm a lot happier than I was before."

"Wait, what? You're dating someone? Who is it?"

"Uh...forget I said anything."

"Oh my God, do I know them?"

"I can't tell you!"

Aoba put his hands on Koujaku’s shoulders and got up in his face. “It’s totally someone I know! Now you _have_ to tell me!!”

“Stop it! I’m not gonna --”

"What are you guys talking about?" Mizuki said as he reentered the room.

Koujaku shoved Aoba to the other end of the couch. "Mizuki! I'm so glad to see you!” He patted the space beside him and said, “Come sit between me and Aoba."

Aoba opened his mouth to tell Mizuki the news he had just learned, but Koujaku shoved a pillow in his face before he could even begin his sentence. When Aoba and Mizuki ganged up on him, Koujaku was weak and powerless.

Mizuki sat between the two of them and they returned their attention to the TV. After a few minutes, though, Aoba leaned closer to Mizuki and whispered in his ear as quietly as he could, “Koujaku’s dating someone.”

“What?!” Mizuki cried, whipping around to look at Aoba and obviously startling Koujaku.

“Yeah! He won’t tell me who, though.”

“Oh my God, man, you have to tell us!’

“No, I don’t! I didn’t mean to tell Aoba about it in the first place. It came out by accident.”

“Come oooon!” Aoba and Mizuki whined like children.

Koujaku rubbed his eyes with his palms. Then he huffed and said, “Fine. I’ll tell you.” He looked over his shoulder before leaning in and whispering, “It’s Mink. I’m dating Mink.”

Aoba and Mizuki looked at each other.

“You expect us to believe that?”

“Tell us who it really is!”

“That’s who it really is! Now don’t go telling people about it.”

“Koujakuuu!”

“Tell us!”

“I just did!’ He barked. “I’m going to bed now.”

Once Koujaku was gone, Mizuki looked at Aoba again.

“Do you think that’s true?”

“No!" was Aoba's immediate response, but then he hesitated and added, "Well, maybe, I don't know. Maybe he's into that."

"Into what? Men the size of refrigerators?"

Aoba laughed so hard he snorted. "You never know!"

Once Aoba had said goodnight to Mizuki and gone to bed, he started to consider Koujaku's advice. Was it really best to give up on Clear? What he felt for him was strong and pure and distinct, and he had never had such...erm... _clear_ feelings about someone before. He thought Koujaku was wrong.

As he thought about it more, he remembered that Clear literally could not fall in love with him. They were of different species, which made it impossible for them to be together. He thought that wasn't fair; Clear wouldn't fall in love with him, but there was no rule preventing Aoba from having unrequited feelings.

In the end, he figured Koujaku knew what he was talking about. It hurt for him to admit it, but he needed to move on.

*     *     *

When Aoba swung by, Clear noticed that he seemed a little...different. He wouldn't hold eye contact for very long, and he kept his hands to himself when he usually would have touched Clear on the arm or patted his hair. Other than that, things were the same, so Clear chalked it up to a bad mood. The sky was cloudy and grey, and there was a bit of a cold breeze, so it could have been that the weather was getting to him.

Clear had the necklace buried in the sand behind him, ready to be given to Aoba, but he wanted to do some investigating before he made any rash decisions.

“Have you ever been in love, Aoba-san?”

Aoba's face went a little bit pink. “Of course I have! Most people my age have been in love at least once.”

“Really? Who was it? What were they like?” _Tell me everything about them, Aoba-san, so I can be like that, too._

“Uh, you don’t know him,” Aoba said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “But he’s a lot like you.”

“He...is? As in, present tense? You’re in love with him right now?”

Aoba shrugged. "I guess so, yeah."

 _Noooooooo!_ Clear tried his best to smile. "That's so exciting, Aoba-san! I was wondering because I'm in love with someone, too, and I would like to compare a human's experience with my own."

"You are?"

"Yes! So please tell me how you experience it."

"Oh. Uh, okay, well, I feel warm when I think about him, and I wish I could be with him all the time. And I wanna know everything about him, even the little things that don't matter."

Clear gasped. "No way, Aoba-san! That's exactly how I feel!"

It hurt Clear to hear that Aoba felt the same things for another man as Clear felt for him, but what could he do about it? If Aoba was happy, Clear would be happy for him, even if his happiness didn't include Clear.

Aoba scratched his face. "So what's your person like? You said merpeople only fell in love once, so have you found your soulmate?"

Clear sighed. "That's something I don't understand. Merpeople are supposed to only fall in love with other merpeople, but the person I'm in love with is not a merperson."

Aoba's face was unreadable. "Are they a human?"

_Oh, no! I should not have said that! Aoba-san is going to find out for sure! I had better think fast..._

"No. He's a dolphin."

"You're...kidding, right? A dolphin?"

"I would appreciate it if you did not judge me, Aoba-san. His name is Cedric and he is in love with me, too. We're planning on swimming away to Canada to elope."

Aoba started to laugh. It was an offensive, snorting kind of laugh, but Clear thought it was adorable. He wanted to bottle the sound and keep it to listen to when he felt sad.

"Oh my God," Aoba rasped as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "You _were_ joking, weren't you?"

Clear smiled. "Yes, Aoba-san."

Clear watched as Aoba calmed down from his laughing fit. His small frame still shook with giggles every few seconds, and all it did was made Clear want to wrap his arms around him. Aoba was so beautiful; he deserved to hear it every second of every day, but Clear didn't need to be the one to tell him. Aoba had someone else to do that.

"You're in love with someone, though, aren't you? Who is it?"

"He's someone who is a lot like you, Aoba-san. I don't think he feels the same way, though."

Aoba smiled, but it looked bittersweet. "Yeah, I don't think my guy likes me back, either."

A rush of relief and joy and some subsequent guilt went straight through Clear and he took a moment to process it all. "Aoba-san, how could someone not like you? You're so fun and interesting and kind and wonderful to be around, not to mention how cute you are! How do you know that he doesn't like you?"

Clear could have sworn that Aoba was stifling a smile. "I don't know. Maybe he does like me, and he's just too shy to tell me."

"That must be it! I haven't told the person I like that I like them, and you said he was like me, right? So maybe he's doing the same thing."

"I hope so."

How had Aoba not yet realized that Clear liked him? _If I were in Aoba-san's position, I would have figured it out forever ago!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic is actually giving me feelings.....i know how it ends but it's still giving me feelings uGH


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clear and Aoba just FUCKING DO IT ALREADY OMFG

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tumblr user neorize drew [this](http://neorize.tumblr.com/post/124165719379/ayy-new-fic-by-skittybitty-this-took-sooo-long-to) lovely art for this fic and nearly killed me at the same time. god bless
> 
> enjoy the chapter!! warning: there is mention of fish dick

"Are you alright, Clear?" Aoba asked as they sat on their rock. (Since when was it "their" rock?)

Clear looked like he was anxious about something; he was fidgeting with his fingers in his lap. "Yes, I'm fine! I was just thinking about how I found something last night that I wanted to give to you."

Clear wanted to give him something? He had shown Aoba things, and he had given him that drawing he did, but he had never given him one of his belongings. Aoba had always figured that Clear simply didn't have very many belongings to begin with.

"Um, could you please close your eyes, Aoba-san?"

"Huh? Um, sure." Though it caused a spike of anxiety to flare in his chest, he shut his eyes. He hated letting his guard down around the water.

Aoba heard Clear sifting through the sand. Then he felt a small, barely-noticeable weight against his chest. He assumed Clear was putting a necklace on him, like he had done to Clear before.

"You can open your eyes, Aoba-san!"

After reopening his eyes, Aoba looked down and saw that Clear had indeed given him a necklace...with a gold heart charm.

 _Oh my God._ Aoba knew he was blushing, and that just embarrassed him further, which made his face redden even more. "T-Thank you, Clear."

"You're welcome, Aoba-san! Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's...cute."

"I found it in the sand several years ago, and I've kept it since then because I didn't know what to do with it. But yesterday I decided that I wanted to give it to you!"

Aoba didn't know what to think of it. Usually, this was the kind of gift someone would give to a person they had feelings for, but Clear didn't like Aoba...did he? He couldn't, right? Aoba didn't want to get his hopes up, so he took it as a platonic thing. Best friends gave each other stuff like that, didn't they?

But then Clear put his hand on Aoba's forearm and said, "You mean a lot to me, Aoba-san," which made Aoba rethink his stance.

When Aoba got home, he couldn't stop touching his necklace and thinking about Clear's words. His housemates asked him about it, so he simply told them a friend had given it to him.

"Seems like more than a friend," Noiz noted.

"Yeah," Koujaku agreed. "Are you dating someone?"

"N-No, we're just friends."

Koujaku probably knew it had something to do with what Aoba had asked him about several days ago, but he just shrugged and let it go. Aoba was grateful for that; he couldn't imagine having to explain to his friends that he was interested in a merman. Wouldn't that be awkward?

*     *     *

"Aoba-san didn't get the hint from the necklace," Clear lamented to Alpha Two as he helped him prepare dinner.

"Hmm. I don't know what else you could do other than outright telling him how you feel."

"I can't do that! What if --"

"Don't think about that. If you tell him and he doesn't feel the same way, then you'll be sad for a while, but I'm sure you two will still be friends."

"O-Okay, I'll do it." He took a deep breath. "I'll do it today!"

"No, you won't."

"Yes, I will! I promise! And I'll tell you how it went."

Though Clear had been totally psyched up to tell Aoba how he felt while he was talking to his brother, he was considerably less ready when Aoba came around that afternoon.

"Hi, Clear! I brought you a milkshake!"

Clear popped up from under the water when he heard Aoba's voice. "Hello, Aoba-san!"

Aoba was sitting on the rock, holding two cups. Clear pulled himself mostly out of the water to sit beside him. The weather was nice, so Aoba would be able to stay for a while! That was perfect, because Clear would need at least an hour to muster up the confidence to confess to Aoba.

"Thank you for the milkshake, Aoba-san."

"No problem! I got you vanilla last time, so this one is orange flavoured."

"It's very sweet, just like you are, Aoba-san!"

Aoba scoffed and gently pushed Clear's shoulder. "That was corny."

 _How is Aoba-san not figuring it out?_ Clear thought in frustration. _Maybe it's because I told him merpeople can't fall in love with humans...but that alone couldn't blind him to my signals, right? I had better bring things up a notch._

"Hey, Aoba-san, do you mind if I draw you?"

Aoba shook his head. "I don't mind. After all, you've already drawn me once before."

Clear grinned and got his supplies ready. "Would you mind posing for me?"

"Not at all! How do you want me?"

"Lie back and rest your weight on your elbow, and then bend this leg up...and put your hand on your knee!" Clear helped Aoba get into position, and once he was done, Aoba was blushing furiously.

"This is what you want me to sit like?"

It was true that Aoba's pose was a little embarrassing; he looked like a girl from the centre of one of the dirty magazines his brothers use to hoard under the sand, except Aoba had his clothes on.

(Clear briefly imagined what Aoba might look like in the same position but without any clothes. He had to stop because it nearly killed him.)

"Yes! It will make for a very nice picture, Aoba-san."

Clear sketched out the basic curves of his body, then went in to add more detail. When he got to his face, he noticed his expression had changed; he was looking straight at Clear with partially lidded eyes, and he seemed to have relaxed into the pose.

Now, Clear wasn't exactly sexually experienced; he had never even kissed anyone before Aoba. While he was aware of his own anatomy, he had never really... _made good use of it,_ mainly because he hadn't really ever felt the pressing need to. But as he looked at Aoba sprawled out in such a seductive manner, he felt something stirring under the scales of his tail and he turned his full attention to his sketchbook in order to avoid any embarrassment.

He focused on each movement of his pencil, trying his hardest to make Aoba look as perfect on paper as he did in reality. He paid careful attention to the small details, like the rumpled fabric of his shirt and the flyaways in his hair. He coloured it right then, rather than waiting, because he wanted to get the colours as close to accurate as possible.

"I'm done, Aoba-san," he said when he was finished. "Would you like to see it?"

"Yeah! Obviously." He sat up from his sexy pose and stretched, then scooted in closer to Clear to see the drawing.

"What do you think, Aoba-san? Do you like it?"

"Holy shit," Aoba whispered. "Did I really look like that? I look hot."

Clear blushed. "I just..."

"You just drew what you saw?"

Clear nodded. "Right, Aoba-san."

Aoba turned to look at him. When Clear met his gaze, he found that Aoba had a questioning look in his eyes.

"Do you mind if I keep the drawing?"

"Not at all, Aoba-san!" He tore it out of his sketchbook and handed it over. "I hope you can look at it and be reminded of how beautiful you are."

Aoba's eyes widened and his cheeks turned pink. "U-Um. Yeah. Um, thank you, Clear."

Clear looked off to the side, away from Aoba, out of embarrassment. He was in the midst of mentally scolding himself for being so forward when he felt Aoba's lips pressing against his cheek. Shocked, he gasped a little bit and turned towards Aoba. Aoba backed away.

"Sorry...was that out of line?"

Clear shook his head. "Not at all, Aoba-san. In fact..."

He was totally, completely, one-hundred-percent ready to tell Aoba how he felt, but then a group of excitedly screaming children came running down the beach, which threw him off.

"'In fact' what?" Aoba almost whispered.

"Um, I forgot what I was going to say!" Clear said, laughing nervously. "I'm sure I will remember it later, though."

 _I was so close! Why didn't I just tell him?!_ Clear screamed at himself in his head. _Aaaaaaarrgghh!!_

*     *     *

Aoba spent all night looking at the drawing Clear had done of him. He didn't know if Clear had realized it or not, but the drawing was almost _erotic._ The pose and the look in his eyes and the goddamn _blush_ Clear had included on his cheeks made Aoba look like he should have been reclined on a bed, waiting to surprise his lover when they came home from work.

Then again, Clear _had_ said he had just drawn what he saw, so Aoba must have been looking at Clear like that. And then he went and kissed him on the cheek!

Aoba was doing a really bad job of trying to get over his feelings for Clear.

 _Maybe I should just tell him. How much harm could it really do? I mean, it's not like Clear's acting like he_ doesn't _like me..._

When he went to see Clear the next day, he noticed something was different.

Ever since Clear had shown Aoba his face, he had gradually started to not wear his mask. He hadn't worn it at all for the past week or so, so Aoba thought he was done with it, but he was wrong, apparently.

"Why are you wearing that again?"

"Um...I want to tell you something, but I am very nervous, so I chose to wear my mask to make it easier."

"Oh. Okay." He fidgeted with his hands in his lap. "I actually have something I wanna tell you, too."

"You do, Aoba-san? Do you want to go first?"

Aoba held his palms out in front of him. "Uh, no, you can go first!"

"Well...I don't know if I'm ready yet, Aoba-san. Go first; I insist."

"I don't wanna go first, either!"

Clear cocked his head to the side. "Do you want to go at the same time?"

"Um. Sure, I guess."

"All right. I'll count to three, and we'll say it at the same time! But you have to say it, Aoba-san. It would be mean to trick me."

"Okay, but you have to do it, too!"

"I will, Aoba-san." He cleared his throat. "One...two --"

"Wait!" Aoba cried. "Are we saying it on three, or after three?"

Clear paused for a moment, thinking. "After three. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay. One...two...three..."

Right on cue, Aoba said, "I'm in love with you!" in as firm a voice as he could manage.

It took him a few seconds of recovering from the rush of endorphins for him to realize that Clear had said exactly the same thing.

Aoba couldn't breathe. In the shakiest voice ever used in human speech, he asked, "What did you just say?"

"I-I'm in love with you, Aoba-san. What did _you_ say?"

"Um...I said the same thing."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"...Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. How long have you felt that way?"

"A while, but...I never told you, because, I mean...you said merpeople couldn't fall in love with humans..."

Clear nodded slowly. "Okay. So, uh...you...you're in love with me."

"Yeah. And, um...you're in love with me?"

"Yes, Aoba-san."

Aoba spent a few seconds processing it. "So...when you said you were in love with someone..."

"It's you. I'm in love with you, Aoba-san."

Aoba wanted to scream and laugh and jump up into the sky, but he was still frozen in place. A smile crept onto his lips as he asked Clear to say it again.

Clear took his mask off and tossed it in the sand behind him. He cradled Aoba's face in his hands and murmured, "I'm in love with you."

Aoba leaned in closer. "I'm in love with you, too, Clear."

Clear started to giggle, and then Aoba giggled, too, and he was so overcome with all the laughter bubbling up his throat that he wasn’t prepared when Clear kissed him.

His lips were warmer than Aoba remembered, but they were still just as soft. It was different from the other times they had kissed -- Aoba had been hesitant and unsure of the meaning behind it. He wasn’t unsure now, though; Clear's passion was fierce and Aoba tried his hardest to match it. Kissing Clear felt natural, like it was something he had done a million times before, but it still put his head in a flurry. He felt like he was simultaneously falling apart and coming back together again.

Clear was the one to break the kiss. He stayed with his forehead pressed to Aoba’s for a while.

"Aoba-san..." Clear had his eyes squeezed shut, and his voice was barely there. "Aoba-san, have you really fallen for me, too?"

"Yeah, I have. And I know it'll be hard for us to be together, but I want to be with you."

Clear started to cry. It was soft at first, endearing, but it quickly turned messy and overly emotional.

"Clear, calm down!"

"I'm sorry, Aoba-san!" He wailed. "I'm just so relieved that you feel the same way! I never thought I would meet someone who would bring me such happiness!"

Aoba wiped his tears away, but they flowed out faster than he could dry them. "You make me happy, too, Clear. You make me happier than anything in the world."

That only made Clear cry harder.

*     *     *

The best day of Clear's life should have been the day Aoba returned his feelings, but it turned out that every day after that was better than the last.

"What are you doing?" Aoba asked when Clear traced the backs of his knuckles with his index finger.

"I'm mustering up the courage to hold your hand, Aoba-san."

Aoba chuckled. "You don't need to do that; just take it! We've already kissed a bunch of times. Holding hands is nothing!"

Clear felt his cheeks burn as he was reminded of all the time they had recently spent with their tongues intertwined. Aoba laughed again, and Clear remembered that Aoba was able to see his face now, so he could tell when he was blushing.

"You're so cute," Aoba said as he laced his fingers with Clear's.

 _"I'm_ cute? You're mistaken, Aoba-san; you're the cute one out of the two of us."

"I am not! You've never seen your own face, so how could you possibly know?"

"Because I've seen _your_ face, and I know that nothing could be cuter."

Aoba looked annoyed for half a second, but then he grinned and ducked his head out of shyness. "How long were you waiting to use that line?"

"I just thought of it now, Aoba-san!"

Clear wasn't sure what was okay to do and what wasn't -- they hadn't talked about that sort of thing, let alone what they were going to label their relationship as. But he wanted to kiss Aoba right now, and he figured it was safe to assume that Aoba wanted to kiss him, too, so he closed the distance between their faces and nudged Aoba's nose with his own.

Still, he needed to make sure. "Is it alright if I kiss you, Aoba-san?"

"Idiot. You don't need to ask."

 _Yes, I do! What if the answer changes?_ Clear didn't want to think about the day when Aoba would say "no" to kissing him, but he also needed to recognize that it would probably happen. Clear couldn't live on the land, and Aoba couldn't live in the water. Trying to pursue a relationship like this was futile.

Clear shut all of that negativity out of his mind for the time being, storing it somewhere he could easily find it when he wanted to feel sad about something. He stuffed it down as far as it could go and kissed Aoba instead.

*     *     *

It was really great to not have to worry about whether Clear liked him back or not, because _Clear totally did!_ They totally liked each other! Aoba felt like he was eight years old again and had a crush on the cute boy in the class above him. If he had been in school, he would have written Clear's name in the margins of all his notes along with a hundred thousand tiny hearts. (At that thought, he wondered if his own name had been scrawled all over Clear's sketchbooks. He hoped so).

Aoba skipped over to their usual spot, unable to wait to see Clear. The clouds in the sky looked menacing, but he figured it would be fine for a little while.

Clear was waiting for him, of course, sans mask and with a giant smile on his face. "I brought you some flowers, Aoba-san!"

Aoba looked at the small bouquet that Clear was presenting him with. "Where did you get these?"

"I swam a little bit past the boundary Toue-san set for us because I saw these growing on the grass over there!" He pointed at some flowers growing quite a ways away. "I didn't want to pick all of them, but I wanted to give some of them to you."

"Thank you." He leaned his face into them and sniffed. "They're really pretty."

It was chilly outside, especially with the wind, so Aoba couldn't stay long. Clear put his arms around him to try and keep him warm, but Clear was cold-blooded, so it didn't really work.

"I'm sorry, Clear, but I can't stay out much longer."

"I understand, Aoba-san! After all, I wouldn't want you to get sick."

Aoba kissed Clear extra-passionately before he left (to compensate for the time lost, obviously). He was extremely hesitant to go home, especially with the way Clear was holding him so close and tangling their tongues together so sweetly, but he knew he had to. Hugging Clear had made his shirt damp, and that, coupled with the harsh wind, made Aoba start to shiver.

Clear leaned back. "Oh no, Aoba-san! You need to go home! I'm sorry that I'm making you cold; I can't help it."

"I know," Aoba said with a laugh. "It's not your fault you're part amphibian."

"Frogs are amphibians," Clear corrected. "Not fish."

Oops. Aoba was pretty embarrassed to have made a mistake like that, so he tried to cover it up. "I know frogs aren't fish, Clear."

"No, I meant..." Clear started to laugh. "Nevermind, Aoba-san." He kissed him on the cheek. "You should go."

Aoba pecked Clear on the nose in return. "I wish I didn't have to. I wish you could come with me."

Clear sighed. "So do I."

Aoba knew that dating a merman wasn't going to be easy. There were obvious challenges, especially due to his thalassophobia, but Aoba was sure they could overcome the obstacles.

As long as Toue didn't get in the way.

It felt like Clear was a high schooler with an overprotective father that never let him go out, and Aoba was the boy he wasn't supposed to hang around with. When he thought about it like that, it was almost funny, especially when he remembered that he had literally helped Clear sneak out at night.

Maybe he could sneak Clear out again, but more permanently this time.

*     *     *

"Master! I have some news for you."

Clear grit his teeth. Alpha One was going to snitch on him again, wasn't he?

"Yes, Alpha?"

"Clear has a boyfriend! And it's a human."

"That's impossible. Merpeople can only fall in love with other merpeople. It's a biological fact."

Clear had to speak up against that. "No, that's not true! I'm in love with Aoba-san, and he's in love with me, too!"

Toue raised his eyebrows. "Aoba is the human you're involved with?"

"Yes, Master, he is."

Toue nodded slowly as if he were contemplating that information. "That's fine, then."

"What?!" Alpha One asked rhetorically, swatting the water in frustration. "Why is that okay?! Why is everything Clear does okay as long as it's with Aoba?!"

"Are you questioning me, Alpha?"

"N-No, sir. I apologize for offending you."

"Good."

While Clear was extremely relieved that Toue had apparently no problem with his new relationship, he understood how Alpha felt. Why was it okay? They had been taught since birth to keep to themselves and only trust Toue. Clear had tested the limits just by talking to Aoba; _dating_ him was another thing entirely.

Would it have been okay if it had been any other human?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the fluff ends here =_=


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba finds some information, but loses something else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont get mad at me

"Hey, Aoba," Noiz said, knocking Aoba's bedroom doorframe. "I found a bunch of shit on that Toue guy."

"You did?" Aoba looked up from the embarrassing homoerotic romance novel he had been reading. “What did you find out about him?”

Noiz came in and sat on Aoba's bed, pulling his legs up and crossing them. “Uh, his name is Toue Tatsuo, he’s 52 years old, and he moved to Midorijima twenty-five years ago.”

Aoba nodded slowly, absorbing the information. “Why did he come here?”

Noiz coughed and rubbed his nose. “Well, um, that’s a long story. Weird, too. Dude’s pretty fucked up.”

“‘Fucked up’ how?”

“He’s, like, a mad scientist. He has a massive criminal record, but he's never actually gone to prison. The thing that freaked me out the most was that he allegedly murdered three kids, like, fifteen years ago.”

Aoba blanched and he got a sick feeling in his stomach. “What happened?”

“They were all killed around the same age, like they were siblings or something. And each one died from a different cause. But there’s something really weird about it.”

“What?”

“The bodies were pretty fucked up so they couldn’t identify them, but...they all had tails.”

“Tails? Like a cat?”

“No, no, like...a fish tail. I know this sounds fucking nuts, but it looked like they were mermaids or something.”

Aoba felt dizzy. “Oh. That’s weird.”

“Right? That’s what I said. What’s your deal with this guy, anyway?”

“Nothing, I just...I don’t know. A friend was talking to me about him and I wanted to know more.”

“Stay fuck away from him, man. You could be next!” He teased, poking Aoba in the ribs. Aoba tried to laugh, but it came out sounding hollow and forced.

Noiz left, then, to go finish some work, leaving Aoba alone with a pit in his stomach. Why did he feel so weird? It was as if he had personally witnessed something disturbing, but...he hadn't. It was just his imagination acting up on him.

He went downstairs, towards the kitchen, to find a snack to distract himself. He paused in his movements when he heard a conversation, deciding to eavesdrop.

“I saw those things out by the west dock,” Koujaku said to Mink. “These ones had pink hair, though. They can’t be good.”

“I agree. At the very least, we need to find out more about them.”

“I think we should take action. What if they infest our waters and we have to relocate? They’re everywhere, man.”

“Do you think we should hunt them?”

“Maybe we don’t have to kill them, but we should try to scare them off. Maybe we should kill one as a warning.”

"No!" Aoba cried, running into the room. If they killed one, it could end up being Clear!

Koujaku sighed. "Why not?"

"W-Well..." Aoba debated whether to lie or not. He could trust his friends, right? Koujaku especially.

"'Well' what?"

"I kind of...made friends with one of them."

"You're friends with one of those monsters?"

"Don't call them that! They don't mean any harm. If anything, the person we should be worried about is Toue. He's using them for something, but I'm not exactly sure what it is."

Koujaku looked like he was about to say something in protest, but Mink cut in first. "I agree with Aoba."

"What? Why?"

"Do you know Toue, Mink? Do you know anything about him?"

Mink turned his head to look out the window. After a few seconds, he said, "I know he can't be trusted."

Koujaku studied the both of them for a moment. "Fine. If it means that much to you, we won't hurt them."

"But if we do," Mink said, "Which one do you want us to avoid?"

Aoba swallowed. "His name is Clear, and he's got a pink tail. He usually wears a gas mask."

"Okay. If anything happens, I'll try to spare him."

"What could possibly happen?"

Mink's face was grim. "With Toue, anything could happen."

*     *     *

"Aoba-saaan! How are you this afternoon?"

"I'm good now," Aoba said, sitting beside Clear and taking his hand into his own.

Clear couldn't believe how lucky he was! Not only was Aoba his partner, but he accepted him just the way he was! In fact, he _liked_ him just the way he was, scales and all! Life couldn't possibly get any better; of that, Clear was confident.

He leaned in closer to give Aoba the first kiss of what was sure to be many that afternoon. Aoba put his hand on the back of Clear's head and closed the distance between them, and then they were kissing and Clear felt his soul ascend into heaven.

Kissing Aoba was the greatest thing in the whole world. It felt like he was melting and Aoba was melting and they were mixing together in a big puddle on the ground. When they kissed, Clear's whole body felt warm and light and tingly and if it were up to him, he would spend his whole life joined at the mouth with Aoba.

Aoba probably didn't even know he was doing it, but when Clear had brought tongue into the equation, Aoba had started to moan softly through his nose. The sound was enough to make Clear dizzy.

When it was over, Aoba kissed the right side of Clear's chin before sitting up straight again. Clear wondered why until he remembered that he had two moles there, according to Aoba's observations.

With a grave expression, Aoba then said, "Clear, I found out some stuff about Toue." He proceeded to explain the entire story about Toue and the dead children with mermaid tails.

"That sounds scary, Aoba-san, but I don't know if it's true."

"I need you to realize how serious this is, Clear," Aoba insisted. "And not only that, but ever since I met you, I've occasionally felt like someone was following me. Toue could be spying on me for some reason; probably 'cause I'm so close with you."

Clear tapped his chin in thought. "Now that you mention it, I noticed something odd a while ago, but I forgot about it. Remember when you took me out of the ocean?"

"Yeah?"

"When Toue-san was chastising me for that, he said something about how the tank was filled with ocean water. He wouldn't have known that unless he had been watching us."

Clear thought he saw a chill run through Aoba's entire body.

"Also," he continued, "I asked my brothers, and neither of them had told Toue-san about it. He had found out on his own."

Aoba sighed. "I don't think it's safe for you to stay here. I don't even think it's safe for us to be having this conversation right now." He paused. "I think I need to take you out, but for good this time."

Clear shook his head. "I can't just abandon my brothers, Aoba-san." They might have been troublesome, but Clear loved his brothers. They were incredibly important to him.

"I know it's hard, Clear, but it's for your own safety. I can come back and get them after I get you."

"But where will we live?"

"I'll figure it out. I know a guy who has a bunch of really big fish tanks, so we could use those." He paused. "Please, Clear...I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Clear stared into Aoba's warm, hopeful eyes, and he couldn't say no. "Fine, Aoba-san. I'll do it."

*     *     *

Aoba tried to contact the old man, but he wouldn't answer his phone. Maybe his number had changed? He still had the one tank, though, so it was fine. Clear's brothers could wait a little while to be rescued, right?

He explained his whole plan to Clear. Like the time before, he was going to fill the tank with seawater and wheel Clear away from the shore. This time, though, he planned on keeping Clear in the shed where he stored the fish he hadn't yet cleaned until he found a better place to put him. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it would get Clear away from Toue, at least.

Before he left to start the preparations, Aoba gave Clear a goodbye kiss. This time was different, though, because while they were nibbling at each other's lips, Aoba heard Clear mumble something.

"...ve you..."

Aoba made a sound of confusion and pulled back. "What?"

"What?"

"Did you just...say..."

"Huh?" Clear's eyes darted around and his posture straightened. "I-I-I didn't say anything."

"It's okay if you did, Clear, I mean..."

"N-No, I swear I didn't! And...if I did, I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean it?"

"That's not what I said! I meant I didn't mean to say it."

"But...do you?"

"Do I what, Aoba-san?"

"Do...you...l-love...me?"

Clear blushed furiously. He opened and shut his mouth several times before finally saying, "Yes, Aoba-san, I do."

Aoba felt a warmth spread through his whole body at Clear's words, but didn't feel right about saying it back; not yet, anyway. He felt it was too soon. If he was going to say those words to Clear, he wanted to mean it completely.

So he just said, "Thank you."

Clear's ears drooped noticeably. "Um...you're welcome."

"Hey," Aoba coaxed, cupping Clear's face in his hands. "Don't be like that."

Clear jerked his head back, out of Aoba's hold. His eyes were narrowed. "I'm sorry, Aoba-san, but I'd like to be alone right now."

"Wait, don't --"

"I'll see you later, Aoba-san, okay? I'll see you tonight." He put his mask back on and slid into the water, swimming far, far away from Aoba.

 _What was that about? He can't honestly be mad at me for not saying it back, can he?_ Aoba tried to forget about it and carry on with the rest of his daily tasks.

When Aoba went to get Clear that night (lugging the giant fucking fish tank behind him), he was a little bit late, and he was surprised to find that Clear wasn’t there waiting for him. After the awkward events of that afternoon, Aoba figured Clear was just reluctant to show his face, so he just sat on the rock and waited.

And waited.

And _waited._

Was Clear standing him up? _Oh my God, is he breaking up with me? Is this how merpeople break up?_ Aoba felt like he was going to cry. He didn’t want to break up with Clear!

An hour and a half passed and Aoba started to get worried. It was seriously unlike Clear to be so inconsiderate. Could something bad have happened to him?

“Clear!” He called. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, louder, _“Clear! Cleeeeeeaaaar!”_

“Clear’s not here,” a merman in a welding mask (whom Aoba recognized as Clear’s brother) said. “I thought he was with you.”

“What do you mean? How is he not _here?!”_ Aoba growled, stomping his foot. “Where the fuck would he go?!”

“Hey, hey, don’t yell at me! Like I said, I thought he was with you! I didn’t know he left.”

"Maybe he's dead," the other one said, popping up from out of nowhere. "Maybe the fishermen got him!"

"Don't say that," the welding mask one scolded

"Well, what do you _think_ happened to him? You think he swam away?"

Welding Mask hummed, then turned to Aoba. "Did anything happen that might have made him want to swim away?"

 _Fuck._ "Well, um...maybe, kinda..."

"I'll go look for him," he replied, and swam away with purpose.

"Aren't you gonna look for him, too?" Diving Helmet said in an annoying, nasally tone. "He's your boyfriend, after all."

Aoba was so frustrated and upset and filled with blood-boiling rage that he grabbed a handful of pebbles and hurled them at the asshole in the water. "Just shut the fuck up!"

He let the rocks hit him without even flinching. "It's not my fault you made him swim away."

Aoba collapsed on the sand and sobbed into it. If Clear had tried to leave, he could have gotten himself into trouble, and Aoba wouldn't have any way of knowing! What if he was hurt? What if he was sad and alone and injured, thinking Aoba didn't care about him?

Aoba stayed on the beach for four hours waiting for Welding Mask to return.

"I'm sorry, Aoba-san," he said. "I couldn't find him anywhere."

"T-T-Thank you for looking," Aoba said between hitched breaths.

"I want to find him, too, so I won't stop looking. He's my favourite brother, after all."

"Hey!" Diving Helmet smacked Welding Mask on the back of the head. "What about me?"

"You're an asshole. Why don't you care that Clear's gone? He's our big brother!"

"I-I don't _not_ care! I just --"

"No, you don't care! You've only been rude to me and Aoba-san this whole time!"

"I feel bad!" He suddenly wailed, throwing his head back. Was he...crying? Seriously? Was Diving Helmet _crying?!_ The three brothers were more similar than Aoba had first thought. "I'm always so mean to him! I don't want him to think I hate him! I just wanted him to stop spending so much time with Aoba-san so he could be with us again!"

"Aww, Alpha, I'm sorry." He patted his brother on the shoulder. "And I'm sure Clear knows you don't hate him."

Watching Clear's brothers only served to remind Aoba that Clear was _gone,_ most likely because of how insensitive Aoba was earlier. The guilt gnawed at him and he stayed awake all night with Clear's brothers, sitting on the beach, staring out at the open, black sky and waiting for Clear to come home.

He never did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like the alphas are big softies at heart. also they arent robots so they havent been programmed a certain way lol, theyre just very misled


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba struggles to cope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i meant to hold off on posting this to make you guys wallow in anticipation but i couldnt lmao

Aoba sat with the Alphas in complete silence, watching the waves roll in, not expecting anything else to happen. He felt dead inside.

"He's not coming back, is he?" Welding Mask (whom Aoba later learned was named Alpha Two) asked.

Aoba felt numb. "No."

It was only upsetting him, at this point, to stay at the beach with Clear's brothers. He had other things he needed to do, and he was very tired, so he went home. He left the fish tank on the sand because he knew, deep inside, that he didn't need it anymore. He wouldn't need to take Clear away because Clear was already gone.

Upon returning home, he found Koujaku locking up the gun cabinet.

Aoba's whole body went cold. "What are you doing? And where did you get the keys? I hid them."

_It was Koujaku! Koujaku did it! Who else would have done something like that?_

"You're not very good at hiding things," Koujaku laughed.

"What were you doing?" Aoba repeated, voice starting to shake with anger.

"Woah, man, calm down. There were some animals hanging around our nets and I didn't want them to wreck anything. I didn't actually shoot any of them, though."

"Is that all?" Aoba didn't believe him. Koujaku had never liked the merfolk in the first place; he had to be the reason Clear was gone.

"Yeah, it is!" Koujaku said defensively. "I didn't go anywhere near your weird mermaid boyfriend, don't worry."

"How do I know that you didn't?!" Aoba demanded. He tried to stop the tears that sprung to his eyes, but he couldn't. "He's been missing since last night!"

Koujaku blinked. "Is he really your boyfriend?"

Mink entered the room, then, probably after overhearing the commotion. "Aoba, we did not kill him."

"I don't believe you!" Aoba yelled. His hands were shaking and he wanted to punch Koujaku in the face. "He's never left his home once in his whole life, so he must be...!" It was humiliating, but he started to heave giant, ugly sobs in front of Koujaku and Mink.

"Aoba," Mink said, "I don't know who would want to hurt him, but it wasn't us. And you don't know he's dead; he could just be somewhere else."

"B-But I have no w-way of finding him!" Aoba wailed. He sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve. Koujaku handed him a tissue and he blew into it. "We had a fight yesterday, kind of, so I thought he might've ran away, but he wouldn't do something like that."

"Could that guy have done something?" Koujaku asked. "What was his name...you know, the one you said was bad?"

"Toue," Mink grumbled. "Did he have any reason to kill him?"

Koujaku rolled his eyes. "He's not _dead,_ jeez. Right now, he's just lost."

"I dunno," Aoba mumbled, still crying. "Maybe. I don't really know anything about Toue, other than the fact that he's bad."

"Give it a couple of days," Koujaku suggested. "He'll turn up."

What if Clear really was dead, though? What if he hurt himself by accident and spent his final moments alone and sad? Aoba just wanted to wrap his arms around Clear and keep him safe, but he couldn't, and it frustrated him.

*     *     *

Days passed without Clear, which turned into weeks, which turned into a month, which was when Aoba stopped keeping track.

Aoba couldn't do his job anymore. He couldn't gut and descale fish because they reminded him of Clear, and he couldn't go down to bring in the lobster traps because it reminded him of when he used to see Clear every day. He couldn't walk around town without thinking of the sound of Clear's joyful laughter when he had seen it for the first time. He couldn't do anything. He couldn't even lay in bed and do nothing because his mind would go right back to replaying the last five minutes he had spent with Clear, but that's all he did anyway. He spent all day lying in bed.

Aoba hated Clear for ruining his life. He was still in denial, still very certain that Clear was out there somewhere and that he just hadn't come home yet. When he found him, he was going to punch him in the face for worrying him, then give him the biggest hug in the world and tell him how much he missed him. He created the scenario in his head and let it run through until he forgot Clear was gone in the first place. He imagined he was sitting on their rock with Clear, and the sun was shining, and Clear had his arm around Aoba's waist and they were smiling and laughing and kissing each other on the cheek and so so so happy to be together again.

Then Aoba came back to the present and started crying again.

Mizuki knocked on his bedroom door. "Aoba? Are you...uh...are you in there?"

"Yeah," Aoba grumbled.

"...Can I come in?"

"Do whatever you want."

Mizuki opened the door and came in. He pushed Aoba over and flopped beside him on the bed. "Man, you need to get up. And shower. You smell awful."

Aoba huffed. "What's the point?" He asked in a monotone.

"The _point,"_ Mizuki said matter-of-factly,"is that you need to take care of yourself."

"I don't care."

"You need to care, Aoba. We all care about you."

"Clear didn't care about me," Aoba muttered, starting to cry again. "If he had, he wouldn't have left without saying goodbye."

Mizuki sighed and hugged him. "I'm sorry, man. Really. But it won't do you any good to lie in bed and waste away, so get up! You need to at least eat something."

Aoba grumbled unintelligibly under his breath. "Fine."

Mizuki raised his eyebrows. "Really? I thought you'd put up more of a fight. If I'd have known you would be so cooperative..."

Aoba was about to ask what he meant when he heard a gruff call of his name from the lower level of the house. He recognized that voice.

It was his grandmother.

"You called Granny?!"

"I'm sorry! I thought she'd be the only one who could get through to you."

"Aoba! Where are you?"

Aoba mentally prepared himself for a tongue lashing. "In here, Granny."

Tae appeared in the doorway, scowling at him. "Look at you! You look skinnier than you were the last time I saw you. Are you eating?"

"He's been going through a rough --"

"Out." She pointed her thumb towards the hallway. "Let me talk to my grandson."

Mizuki looked sheepish. "Yes, Tae-san." He scurried out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Tae sat on the bed where Mizuki had been. "What's the matter, Aoba?"

Aoba took a long pause before speaking. "I lost someone important to me. He's been gone for over a month and I don't know what happened to him. I don't think he's coming back."

"What was he to you?"

"He was my boyfriend, I guess, but it doesn't matter now."

Tae nodded slowly. "At my age, many of the people I once knew have passed. It's hard for me, still, even after being alive all this time. You've just barely passed twenty years, so I can only imagine how you must feel." She paused to pat Aoba on the knee. "But the good thing about being young is that you have more time to heal from it and move on."

"I don't wanna move on," Aoba mumbled. "I want him to come back."

"It's good to stay hopeful, Aoba, but don't delude yourself. That will only hold you back."

After their conversation, Tae dragged Aoba downstairs and made him eat dinner with his housemates. Everyone was lively and the atmosphere was warm and friendly and it made Aoba feel a little less empty inside.

He helped his grandmother clean up after dinner, and then they visited for a while after, but then she said she had to go home. Aoba had a question for her, though.

"Before you go...do you know anything about a guy named Toue? Toue Tatsuo?"

Tae's scowl deepened. "Why?"

"He might have had something to do with my friend."

"Aoba, you shouldn't meddle in things like that. You could get yourself in trouble."

"So...you know him?"

Tae looked out the window instead of at Aoba. "Yes, but it was a long time ago. I wouldn't be of any help now."

"I'm sure anything would be useful --"

"Aoba," Tae warned. "Enough." Then she left the room.

What was _that_ about? And why was Toue suddenly such a big part of everyone's lives? Aoba had never even heard his name before he had met Clear, and now he was everywhere. There were so many things that Aoba didn't know and it stressed him out to the point where his head started to ache.

*     *     *

Aoba eventually became more comfortable with going outside and pulling in the lobster traps (though he still couldn't slice up the fish -- it was too disturbing). He had got to the point where he could look at their rock without breaking down completely. He still cried, but only a little.

The Alphas started coming up to talk to him when he came around. They were a lot friendlier than they used to be, and Aoba didn't mind chatting with them.

One afternoon, Alpha One was complaining about how uncomfortable his helmet was, so Aoba suggested he take it off.

"No, we can't!"

"We mustn't! Toue says not to!"

"Toue's an asshole and he's wrong," Aoba politely informed them. "Clear showed me his face and I still loved him. He was actually pretty hot."

"You loved Clear?"

 _Oh. Did I say that?_ Figures that Aoba would feel comfortable saying it too little too late. "Yeah, I did. He said he loved me, first, and I didn't say it back, so I think that's why he swam away."

"Oh."

Everyone fell quiet (as they were all still reeling from the shock of Clear's disappearance). Aoba didn't want to think about it, though, so he cleared his throat to speak again.

"So go ahead and take your masks off! You probably look just like Clear."

The Alphas both took audibly deep breaths and reached for their masks. Alpha One struggled to get the helmet off his head, but Alpha Two got his welding mask off in only a few seconds. When their faces were exposed, they looked at each other.

"What does mine look like?!" They asked at the same time.

Aoba got choked up as he looked at them. It was like looking at two Clears, only without the moles. It broke his heart and he had to look down as his lap to stop himself from crying. "You guys look exactly the same."

"We do?!" They asked in disbelief (and in unison again). They stared at each other, poking their own features before poking their brother's.

"And you look a lot like Clear, too."

They snapped their heads around to face Aoba. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that Alpha Two had a small beauty mark on his cheek. It was smaller than the ones Clear had on his chin, but it was still noticeable. _Thank God! I have a way of telling them apart!_

"Does it bother you, Aoba?" Alpha Two asked. (They had stopped calling him "Aoba-san" because it reminded him too much of Clear.)

"No, it's fine. You can't help it."

While the Alphas marvelled over their faces, Aoba noticed something slowly making its way to the shore, floating on the surface of the water. He thought it was just another dried-out piece of flotsam until he saw part of it glinting in the sun.

A gas mask. It was a gas mask.

"Oh my God," Aoba gasped, covering his hands with his mouth. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Alpha One asked.

Aoba just shook his head and pointed at the water.

"I don't see anyth -- oh..."

The Alphas looked grim. One of them (Aoba didn't notice which one) swam out to get it. He returned and handed the mask to Aoba.

"You keep it," he said. "We have lots of his stuff."

Aoba held the mask against his chest and wailed. Clear had to be dead! He would never see his face or hear his voice or hold him in his arms ever again.

But part of Aoba felt like that didn't make sense. Clear may have been naive at times, but he didn't lack common sense. He was a grown (mer)man; there's no way he would have gotten lost or injured and _died_ without a trace.

Someone else must have interfered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuck everything


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba makes a new(?) friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fuck!!!!!!! haha ha ha ha i hope you guys like this

Aoba ended up quitting his job as a fish cleaner, choosing to get a job at the market instead. He still technically worked for the fishing group because it was their fish he sold at his stand, but it was much less upsetting. It was better, anyway, because he got to interact with other people, instead of spending all day alone with his thoughts in the fish shack. It helped to take his mind off of things.

One day, while he was working, he was approached by the same old man who had given him the giant fish tank.

"Are you Aoba Seragaki?"

"Maybe...who's asking?"

"I have a friend who has asked me to look for you. You're the only blue-haired person I've seen all day, so you must be Aoba, right?"

Aoba sighed. "Yeah."

"Excellent! He will be pleased. When your shift is over, please come find me. I have something to show you."

"Sure. See you then."

True to his word, Aoba met the old man at his fruit stand at the end of his shift. He followed the old man through a series of small paths. Maybe he was being led to his doom, but did he really care?

The house they arrived at was very shabby and small, and there was a lot of what looked to be some kind of scientific equipment on the front lawn.

"Come in! He's been waiting for you."

Aoba followed the man inside, not really knowing what to expect. Would Toue be waiting on the other side? His stomach tingled with anxiety and he took a deep breath before stepping in. The house smelled old, but also strangely sterile, and Aoba kept his gaze to the floor.

"Aoba-san?"

Aoba didn't want to look. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, because that sounded just like...

Slowly, he raised his head enough to see what was in front of him. Lying on a what looked to be a hospital bed in the middle of the room, covered from the chest down with a quilted white blanket, was Clear. It was definitely Clear.

He was alive? This whole time, he had been alive? He had been _here?_ He was safe and sound and nobody had told Aoba? Aoba felt like everything had stopped. He felt so many emotions so intensely all at once that they muddled together and left him feeling numb.

"I'm very sorry, Aoba-san."

Sorry? Clear was _sorry?!_ That fuelled Aoba's rage and he stomped over to the bed, swinging his arm back and punching Clear in the cheekbone as hard as he could. Clear made a soft sound of pain but didn't say anything about it, as if he felt he deserved it.

"Where the fuck were you?!" Aoba shrieked. He punched Clear in the face a second time. Tears of anger and relief and joy streamed down his cheeks and he grit his teeth. "Do you h-have...any...idea..." He couldn't finish his sentence because he had started to sob.

Clear held Aoba tightly and stroked his hair in an effort to soothe him. Aoba let himself cry for what must have been twenty minutes, vaguely remembering in the back of his mind that the weird old man was still in the room.

"I know it doesn't make a difference, but I'm sorry, Aoba-san. I didn't mean to worry you, and I would have told you what happened if I could have, but Grandfather wouldn't let me leave." He wiped Aoba's tears away with his thumbs as his own spilled over. Aoba instinctively put his hands over Clear's and held them there.

"It's okay," Aoba whispered, and he meant it. "I'm just grateful that you're alive. I thought you were dead; so did your brothers."

"You talked to them?"

"Shh," Aoba hushed him, "I'll tell you about it later. Just -- just let me let it sink in, okay?"

Clear leaned his face closer. "I love you so much, Aoba-san..."

Aoba smiled. "Clear, I -- "

The old man cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but I feel that some things need to be explained." He stepped over towards them. "Seragaki-san, have you noticed anything different about Clear?"

Aoba pulled back and looked at Clear again with caution. Everything seemed the same; his face, his hair, his -- oh, wait, his ears were different.

They were human.

Aoba's eyes scanned downwards; Clear's neck and shoulders were scaleless, and when he pushed the blanket down, he found that his abdomen was still toned and taut and absolutely fucking _perfect,_ but devoid of any scales or gills.

"Oh my God," Aoba breathed.

"Take the blanket all the way off, Aoba-san," Clear murmured.

"Ah! I just remembered, I left something in the other room!" The old man said, clearly flustered. "I'll be right back." He scampered up the stairs, leaving the couple alone.

With a shaky hand, Aoba slid the blanket down Clear's torso. Rather than his usual tapering scales, Aoba saw a path of fine white hair leading to whatever was under the blanket.

Aoba pushed the quilt to the floor.

He drew in a gasp as he took in the real, genuine, human legs extending from Clear's torso (and maybe he was looking at his dick a little bit, so what?). They were long and muscular and they looked like they fit with the rest of his body, though his left calf had a large, thick bandage on it.

_Did I die in my sleep? Is this what heaven is like?_

Aoba looked back up at Clear's face. "How...?"

"Grandfather will explain it. When I left you that afternoon -- which I am sorry about -- I was so angry and upset that I swam very far out of bounds and found myself in a sticky situation with some sharks. I wasn't badly injured, but I was still injured, and Grandfather happened to find me as I was trying to recover. He dragged me out of the water and took me here, and when I woke up, I had all this." He paused. "He says he can explain it better than I can, so I'll wait for him to come back." He covered himself up with the blanket again and said, "Grandfather! I'm not naked anymore!"

The old man came back down the stairs.

"I'm sure you're confused, right, Seragaki-san?"

Aoba nodded, still kind of speechless.

"Toue is an evil man. He has been mercilessly cruel to Clear's species for decades. He tells them that, if they leave the water and their tails dry out, they will die. That's not true. When their tails dry out, they turn human. Upon returning to the sea, or submerging themselves in seawater, they transition back into merfolk."

"How do you know that?"

"I used to work for Toue. I was one of his main researchers; I know everything there is to know about Clear's species. What Toue was up to was too unethical for me to continue working there, though, so I quit, but I didn't stop studying them.

"Since then, I've been trying to rescue as many merfolk as I can and rehabilitate them so they can exist the way they are supposed to: as both water and land creatures. Clear was going to be my next subject, but luckily -- well, luckily for _me_ \-- I found him injured on the shore, which made my job a lot easier.

"It took a few weeks for his injury to heal, which postponed the rehabilitation process. However, he has been making great progress, and he should be fully able to walk on his own in a week or two."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"I'm sorry, Seragaki-san, but I couldn't have you interfering. Clear asked for you every day, but I wouldn't allow anything that could potentially get in the way."

"You couldn't have me _'interfering?'"_ Aoba snarled.

The old man held his palms out in front of him. "Don't take it the wrong way! I'm a scientist, and scientists have to do things a certain way. It was nothing personal. You wouldn't have wanted to see Clear while he was injured, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because, Aoba-san," Clear replied, "It was gross. The sharks had chewed up the left side of my tail, and when I turned human, it ended up being the bottom part of my left leg that was injured. I could see all the way to the bone."

Aoba sucked in through his teeth. "Ouch."

"But I'm fine now! Better than fine, actually, because I can live a normal life with you, Aoba-san!" His expression turned from excited to sheepish when he added, "If you'll still have me."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Seragaki-san," the old man said, "before you decide to get serious about this, you should know that merpeople have much longer lifespans than humans. They can live for hundreds of years. Even when in human form, their DNA remains the same, so the circumstances don't change."

Aoba paused, thinking about it. "Is that really a problem?"

"What do you mean?" Clear asked.

"It's just that...yeah, you're gonna live longer than me, but you're gonna live that long anyway, so wouldn't you rather spend as much of it as you can with me?"

"Y-You want to spend your life with me, Aoba-san?"

Aoba blushed. "Well, yeah, I guess..."

"You guess?"

"No, I mean...I'm not gonna be happy if I'm not with you. So I guess that means I want us to be together for as long as we can be."

"Aoba-san..."

"And it might be a bad time to say this, but...I...love you?"

Clear furrowed his brow. "Are you asking me a question?"

Aoba laughed. "No, no, I'm just...nervous, I guess. I've never been in this situation before." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "I love you, Clear."

Clear's expression didn't change. "What?"

"I love you."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah."

"Are...you sure?"

"I'm positive."

Clear was quiet for a second. "Why?"

Aoba felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. "Why not?"

"Well, _because,”_ Clear said like it was obvious. "You're...well, you're Aoba-san. You're nice, and so kind to everyone you meet, and you're warm and beautiful and human and perfect and..." He looked down at his hands. "I'm none of those things. I don't deserve you."

"Clear..." Aoba whispered, holding him by the shoulders. "You _are_ all of those things."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are! You love me because I'm Aoba-san, and I love you because you're Clear-kun. See? It's the same thing."

Clear sighed. “I know I’m human now, Aoba-san, but I’m not going to be human all the time. Will you still feel the same way about me when I’m not?”

“Yes, you big dummy. I fell in love with you before I even knew you could be a human!”

Clear smiled and he looked like he was about to say something, but the old man cut in (and honestly, Aoba had forgotten he was there in the first place),

"Do you two have any more questions for me?"

"No, not right now, Grandfather."

Aoba shuffled his feet. "Would you mind if we went out for a while? I think we should spend some time alone."

"I don't mind at all! I'll go get some clothes for you, Clear, and you're welcome to borrow the wheelchair from the front closet." The old man went upstairs for a few minutes, then came back down and handed Aoba a small stack of clothes. “I’m assuming he’ll be spending the night with you?”

Aoba blushed, though he didn’t really know why. “Uh, I didn’t really think about it, but I guess so.”

The old man smiled. “I’ll leave you two alone now. Have fun! Be careful with your injury, Clear.”

“I will! Thank you for everything, Grandfather.”

The old man went up the stairs again (hopefully for good this time -- it wasn’t that Aoba didn’t like him, he just really wanted to be alone with Clear).

“You should get dressed,” Aoba said, “so we can get out of here.”

Clear nodded. He picked up a white button-up shirt that looked too small for him and, after a minute of studying it, said, "I don't know how to do this, Aoba-san."

Aoba chuckled. "It's alright, Clear. I can help you."

The clothes his “grandfather” had given him were ill-fitting and not the kind of thing a person Clear’s age should have been wearing, but Aoba supposed they were better than nothing. Aoba helped Clear put them on, and once he was dressed, he got in the wheelchair.

“Where are we going, Aoba-san?” Clear asked as Aoba wheeled him out of the house.

Aoba shrugged. He realized Clear couldn’t see him shrug, so he verbalized it. “I dunno. I kinda just wanna go to my house. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is! I didn’t get to see inside your house last time.”

They were pretty much silent for the duration of the walk. Aoba was still trying to process the fact that Clear was not only alive, but _human_ and completely intact. All of their problems had been solved all at once, and it was kind of jarring. When did things ever work out like that? Something had to go wrong. There _had_ to be something else that Aoba didn’t know about yet.

“Hey! I’m home!” Aoba called out upon entering the front door. “Is anyone here?”

There was no response.

“Alright,” Aoba mumbled to himself. “Guess that means we’re alone!”

“Your house is so cute, Aoba-san!”

Aoba chuckled. “Thank you. I hope the fish smell doesn’t gross you out too much.”

“Why would the ‘fish smell’ bother me, Aoba-san? I’m half-fish. I have a fish smell.”

“Whatever. Do you wanna go to my room? It’s upstairs, so it might be hard for you to --”

“I can do it, Aoba-san. I can walk up the stairs.” Clear’s mouth was set in a firm line and he looked very determined.

Aoba watched, uninterfering, as Clear stood up from the wheelchair on only-slightly-wobbly legs. He took a step and grabbed onto the handrail, supporting most of his weight on it.

“Clear, do you want --”

“No.”

It took about ten minutes, but Clear managed to make it up the stairs on his own (though Aoba stayed behind him to catch him in case he fell).

“You did it!” Aoba cheered. “Not that I didn’t think you could, it’s just -- I dunno, I’m not used to seeing you walk. You know?”

Clear grinned and pulled Aoba in by the waist. “I’m so happy to be able to be with you as a human, Aoba-san.”

Aoba felt Clear’s hand slide into his hair, and then their faces were moving closer together and Aoba remembered that it had been over a month since the last time he and Clear had kissed. He panicked for a second, thinking he would forget how to do it, but it all came back to him once their lips touched. Their mouths parted and their tongues swiped against each other, making Aoba's knees a little shaky. He didn’t want to lean into Clear because he didn’t want to knock him over, but he couldn’t really help it; it was almost involuntary, the way he softened against him and pulled down on his shoulders.

Clear broke the kiss after a much shorter amount of time than usual, taking big, gulping breaths.

"Oh my gosh," he whispered. "Is that what it's been like for you the whole time? I'm sorry, Aoba-san; I had no idea how much of an advantage I had with my gills. Breathing is so hard now!"

Aoba giggled. "Come on, let's go to my room."

They went inside. Clear sat on the bed almost immediately, while Aoba debated whether to lock the door behind them or not (he chose to do it, but he didn't dwell on the reasons why).

"So," Aoba began after sitting down beside Clear, "It's been a really long time since I've seen you."

"It's been a really long time since I've seen you, too, Aoba-san. I know it's different, but it wasn't easy for me to be apart from you."

"I get it, but... I was just so worried about you, you know? And I was so depressed and I felt like I was dead." He swallowed. "Like I wanted to be dead."

"Aoba-san..." Clear's eyes were getting watery. "I'm so sorry for doing that to you. As your lover, I should be trying as hard as I can to make sure you don't feel that way. I promise to never do it to you again."

Aoba smiled. "That's not important right now, though. I finally have you back! I should be hugging you twenty-four-seven." He subsequently wrapped Clear in a hug.

"I love you so much, Aoba-san," Clear murmured. He had already said it once, but Aoba figured he would make sure to say it as many times as he could for the rest of his life.

"I love you, too, Clear."

Clear kissed him again. It was a little bit easier now that they were both seated. In a surge of passion, Aoba gently pushed Clear down on his back and crawled on top of him, not once breaking the seal of their lips. Clear's hands slid around Aoba's middle and brought their bodies closer together as their kissing became frenzied and messy.

"U-Um, Aoba-san..." Clear mumbled against Aoba's lips.

"Yeah?"

"I'm, um... I'm getting..."

Aoba pulled back and saw that Clear was blushing furiously. He moved his hips down, further against him, to see if -- yep, Clear was getting hard.

"What do you wanna do?"

Clear blinked up at him. "What -- what do I want to do? What do you mean?"

"W-Well, I mean...I kinda wanna...do it with you." He looked at Clear's ear instead of into his eyes. "If you want, of course. I don't mean to pressure you into anything."

Clear was silent for at least a minute, and his face turned exponentially more red as time went on. "You want to have sex?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Aoba said, still not meeting Clear's gaze. "I just thought it would be nice for the two of us to...become one." He buried his face in his hands. "God, this is embarrassing..."

Clear's face was probably redder than Aoba's, which was an impressive feat. "Will it hurt?"

"I don't know if it'll hurt!" Aoba barked. "I've never done it before!"

"But you want to do it with me?"

Aoba frowned at the bedspread. "Yeah, I do, but we don't have to."

"Do I turn you on, Aoba-san?"

Aoba's face snapped up. "What?!"

"It is common for humans to experience sexual arousal around their romantic partners. We're romantic partners, right? So is that why you want to...do it, Aoba-san? Because I turn you on?"

"Um. Well, uh. You're...attractive, yeah. I'm attracted to you. S-Sexually. But it's...more than that."

Clear grinned. "Is it because you love me, Aoba-san? You want to express how grateful you are to have me in your life?"

"Yeah, that's it, actually."

"Aww, Aoba-san, I feel exactly the same way!"

"So you wanna do it?"

Clear smiled. "Yes, Aoba-san. I want to show you how much I love you."

Aoba kissed him again, this time feeling free to explore Clear's body with his hands. He stroked his chest and his arms and went to touch his abdomen when he realized it would be a lot easier without a shirt in the way.

"Can we take this off?" Aoba asked in a breathless rush.

"Yes," Clear answered. "But you do it, too."

Aoba had seen Clear without a shirt before -- he had never worn one to begin with -- but to see his body now, his entirely human, scaleless body, when he knew what they were about to do, was so arousing he could barely think. He reached his hand out to feel the ridges of his torso.

"Is it okay, Aoba-san?"

Aoba nodded. "Don't worry, Clear. You're beautiful."

Clear teared up. "You really think I'm beautiful, Aoba-san?"

"Yeah," Aoba said, smiling. He pulled his own shirt over his head and set it on the floor. He was embarrassed to think that he would eventually be completely naked in front of Clear, and that Clear would look at him and touch him and have those memories burned into his brain. After all, Aoba was nothing special.

"A-Aoba-san," Clear stammered as he rested a shaking hand on Aoba's waist. He was staring at Aoba as if...well, as if Aoba had a body like Clear. He didn't, though, so he felt self-conscious.

"Stop looking at me like that," Aoba grumbled.

"Why? You are incredibly attractive, Aoba-san. It is very arousing to see you like this."

Aoba tried his hardest not to feel shy. If they were going to have sex, he couldn't grow meek only from Clear's words.

"You're feeling it here?" Aoba asked, palming at Clear's groin tentatively through his too-big pants. Clear groaned and reached out to hold onto Aoba's arm.

"Aoba-san..."

"Have you ever done this before?"

Clear shook his head. "No, Aoba-san. Not even by myself." He had to pause when Aoba pressed harder against him. "I had no idea it felt like this."

"It'll feel even better if you take your pants off," Aoba whispered.

Clear nodded and started to take his pants off, and Aoba almost looked away out of embarrassment. He followed suit and removed the rest of his own clothes.

"Um...Aoba-san? Is mine normal?"

Aoba glanced down at Clear's erection. "Yeah," he replied in a tight voice. "It's fine. Your body is like mine; you're perfectly normal."

"It's just that mine is a lot bigger than yours--"

"Don't make fun of me!"

"I'm not, Aoba-san! I was only worried that mine wasn't a normal size."

"W-Well, it's bigger than normal, but that's not a bad thing. A lot of people like it like that."

Clear looked down at himself again. "Do you like it, Aoba-san?"

Aoba cleared his throat. "Y-Yeah, uh...I like it like that. I'd still like it if it were smaller, but...it's good like that."

"Does it feel better if it's big?"

"Uh, I've never actually had a real one inside, but it'll probably be better."

"What do you mean, 'a real one?'"

"W-Well, uh, when I do it by myself, sometimes I use a fake one. Lots of people do that. And usually they make them pretty big, so...I shouldn't have any problem with yours."

"Okay." Clear seemed like all of his questions had been answered. "So, how do we proceed? You have to prepare yourself somehow, right, Aoba-san?"

"Yeah, uh, you'll have to use your fingers, but you'll need something to make it easier." He fished around inside his pillowcase until he found his bottle of lubricant, which he handed to Clear. "Put this on your fingers, and then put them in me. Do it one at a time, though, so I can get used to it."

"Alright, Aoba-san." He coated his fingers with lube. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

Clear leaned forward and kissed Aoba as he slid a finger in.

"Does it hurt?" He asked with his lips still pressed against Aoba's.

"N-No, it's fine." Aoba was pretty used to the feeling of fingers in his ass, but it was something new entirely to have someone else's fingers in him, let alone someone he had such strong feelings for. "You can put another one in now."

Clear nodded and added a second finger. He added a third shortly after, which was when Aoba said, "I think I'm ready."

*     *     *

Clear was nervous. Aoba was pushing him onto his back, saying something about not wanting Clear to strain himself after his injury, and Clear was unsure what to do. He had read about sexual intercourse in books before, so he knew what to expect, but he hadn't known how flustering it would be to have a lapful of naked Aoba grinding on him.

Aoba was the most beautiful thing Clear had ever seen. Clear knew he definitely _wanted_ to have sex with Aoba; to fill him and touch him all over and make him feel every ounce as wonderful as Clear knew he was. He just wasn't really sure how to do that.

Then Aoba whispered, "I'm gonna -- I'm putting it in now, alright?" in the throatiest voice Clear had ever heard him use, so Clear nodded, deciding it was best to just hold on for the ride (so to speak).

Agonizingly slowly, Aoba sat further and further down into Clear's lap and it took all the willpower Clear could muster to not flip them over and thrust into Aoba like an animal. His desire to be gentle and kind and loving towards Aoba far outweighed the instinctive urges swimming around in his head.

Aoba was making breathy little sounds in the back of his throat as he started to move. In the back of his mind, Clear wondered if they were moans of pain, but the look on Aoba's face suggested otherwise.

He had to ask. "Does it feel good, Aoba-san?"

Aoba nodded. "Is it good for you, too?"

"Yes, Aoba-san, you're very tight, and...h-hot..."

As if he were embarrassed at Clear's words (even as he was displaying himself in such a salacious manner), Aoba blushed and broke eye contact. Besides, Aoba was the one who had suggested it in the first place -- not that Clear hadn't been thinking about it, too. He just hadn't planned on bringing it up. Still, he figured if Aoba was comfortable enough with the notion to suggest they do it, he should have been able to do it without folding in on himself and shying away.

"Don't be embarrassed," Clear whispered, but he knew it sounded like a beg. "I'm nervous, too, Aoba-san. This is new for me, too."

"I know, I know, it's just..." Aoba didn't continue his thought, but Clear understood anyway.

"It's only me here, okay, Aoba-san? I'm the only one looking at you right now. I'm the only one here with you."

"I know," Aoba repeated. "I'm glad it's you, and I'm glad you can be here with me, but it doesn't make this any less embarrassing."

"We can stop, Aoba-san. I understand if you aren't ready."

Aoba's eyes flew wide open. "No, no, I want to! I want to keep going!"

"Will it make it better if I go on top?"

"I don't want you to hurt yourself..."

Clear tried to smile reassuringly. "You saw me go up the stairs, Aoba-san. If I could do that, I could surely make love to you."

Aoba put his hands on Clear's chest and stopped moving. "First of all, don't fucking -- are you trying to kill me? Don't call it that."

Clear laughed. He stroked his hand down from the middle of Aoba's chest all the way to his cock and said, "I'll make note of that. Do you want to change positions?"

Aoba nodded tentatively. "Tell me if you're in pain, okay? We can try again when your leg is fully healed." He sat up and flopped over beside Clear on the bed.

As soon as Clear mounted Aoba and lined himself up to go in, he regretted his decision. Aoba was a virgin, too, but Clear was a super-virgin! At least Aoba had grown up around humans who talked about this sort of thing. Clear knew about merperson sex, but that was very different from this. He worried he wouldn't be able to satisfy Aoba.

He felt a finger poke at the space between his eyebrows and he looked up to Aoba's face.

"Your eyebrows are getting wrinkled. I can tell you're worrying, so stop it."

"I can see why you were nervous. It's a lot different when it's up to you to do everything."

"I'm not gonna judge you," Aoba assured. "Just do whatever feels good. I'll tell you if it doesn't feel good for me."

Clear nodded and tentatively pushed in. Aoba immediately wrapped his legs around Clear and pushed his hips up further against him so he entered him more quickly. Clear took the hint and started to move, breathless at how tight Aoba was but also at how easily he took him in.

Aoba clung to Clear like his life depended on it, moaning in his ear and kissing his neck and raking his nails down his back.

"C-Clear, it's...good! Really, really good...!"

No matter what Clear did, it was going to feel good for him, so his main focus was giving Aoba as much pleasure as he could. He noticed that Aoba's nipples were hard, clearly protruding from his chest, so he circled one with his thumb.

Aoba _mmmed_ through his nose and stuck his chest out, probably subconsciously. "Do that again."

"This?" Clear asked, just to make sure, as he touched Aoba's nipple again. Aoba made the same sound and nodded. He then dragged his own hand over Clear's chest and did the same to him in return, gently circling his index finger over the area.

"Do you like it?" Aoba asked.

Clear didn't love it, and he probably didn't even like it half as much as Aoba did, but it wasn't bad or anything, so he slowly nodded. Aoba must have sensed his hesitation, though, because he stopped.

"You don't need to lie to me. Some people are just more sensitive in some areas than other people are. It's okay."

That must have been true, because Aoba was being very responsive to the internal stimulation Clear provided, and Clear knew it wouldn't have been that good had it been the other way around. Clear had no idea humans could feel things in different ways.

"Is there anywhere else you'd like me to touch you, Aoba-san?"

"No, but there's something I want you to do."

"What is it? I'll do anything for you."

Aoba smiled up at him. "Call me Aoba."

Clear felt his brow furrowing in confusion. "I am calling you by your name, Aoba-san."

"No. Not 'Aoba-san.' Call me by my name, without the honorific."

"A-Aoba?" It felt weird on Clear's tongue, and he had a strong urge to add the '-san,' but he didn't.

Aoba's eyes lit up with arousal. "Say it again."

"Aoba..."

Aoba licked up the side of Clear's neck. He nibbled on his ear and said, "Keep saying it. Talk to me."

Clear didn't know what to say, but he knew Aoba probably didn't really care what he said as long as he kept saying his name.

"Aoba, you're so beautiful, and you feel so good inside.." He kissed Aoba sweetly on the nose. "I love you, Aoba. More than anything in the world."

Aoba gasped for air and pulled Clear in even closer. "D-Don't stop...!"

Clear wasn't sure if Aoba meant to tell him to not stop moving or to not stop saying his name, but Clear had no intention of stopping either one.

Aoba's whole face was sweaty and his hair stuck to his forehead. His eyes didn't look like they wanted to stay open, but he forced them to so he could look at Clear. Clear could tell he was really enjoying it.

Clear was enjoying it, too; his legs burned from the effort, and he was getting kind of tired, but it was well worth it. He wanted nothing more than to please Aoba, and the pleasure he himself got out of it was just extra on top of that. He noticed it building, though, and he knew he was going to reach orgasm, but he also knew he could hold off until Aoba did first.

"Right there! Do it right...there!" Aoba cried, losing his composure. Clear tried to thrust at the same angle that had prompted that reaction from Aoba. He must have done a good job because a few seconds later, Aoba moaned out a cry of Clear's name (along with several profanities) and started to twitch all over. His insides convulsed around Clear's shaft and he ejaculated between their bodies.

The feeling of Aoba squeezing him so tightly was what brought Clear over the edge, too. Clear had had no idea how wonderful sex could be before they started, so he was completely unprepared for climax. It felt like his whole body was lighting up in the best way possible, and that he was melting together with Aoba and that they were spilling off the mattress and onto the floor, filling up the whole room with their love for each other. He realized, when it was over, that he had been moaning very loudly and holding Aoba in a death grip, but he didn't feel embarrassed. Aoba deserved to know how good he made Clear feel.

"That was incredible," Aoba whispered, smiling as if he couldn't be bothered to hold it back.

"It was," Clear agreed. "I didn't know it would be that good. Thank you for...for everything, Aoba. Thank you for teaching me things and loving me and not giving up on me. Thank you."

Aoba's smile widened and he crinkled his nose. "You called me 'Aoba' again."

"Do you want me to go back to calling you 'Aoba-san?'"

"No. I just didn't think you'd keep doing it."

"I'll do whatever you want, Aoba," Clear murmured. "I'll do anything to make you happy. I will never make you feel sad again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was fuckin with you guys this whole time. clear's not dead, a parent cannot kill their own son
> 
> btw i've had this whole fuckin disney channel mermaid thing planned out from the start believe me, i knew when i started writing it that clear was gonna be human at some point. this was Not a copout
> 
> also you may be wondering, "dear pancake, how could there possibly be 6 chapters after this one??? what else could happen???????? ??" to which i have no reply


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba and Clear spend some time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no clear pov in this chapter!! idk why
> 
> also I said the fluff was over but it's not, it's never over with me

Aoba woke up the next morning slightly sore, but very content. He stayed in the same position until he felt Clear stirring beside him.

"Good morning, Aoba," he said in a sleep-addled voice.

Aoba smiled when he heard Clear say his name by itself. While pretty much everyone called Aoba "Aoba," it felt more intimate when Clear did it, like it was some kind of affectionate nickname.

"Morning, Clear." He turned to face him and gasped at what he saw. "Oh my God, your face! Look what I did to your face!"

"Ehh? What do you mean? I can't look at my face."

"It's all bruised from when I punched you!"

Clear eye was purple and puffy, almost to the point where he couldn't open it, due to Aoba punching the same spot twice with all of his might.

"Oh, it is? I hadn't noticed."

"Doesn't it hurt?!"

Clear moved his face experimentally. "Maybe a little, but I understand why you did it. What I did to you was not fair and you had every right to react like that."

"Still...I don't like knowing I hurt you." He put his hand on the other side of Clear's face. "And it wasn't your fault! You had no control over what happened!"

"I deserved it anyway." Clear smiled and kissed Aoba on the cheek. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Did you?"

"Yes! That was my first time sleeping with you, so it was very satisfying!"

Aoba blushed as he remembered exactly what they had done the night before. "R-Right."

"Ah, um, by 'sleeping together' I meant a-actually sleeping...together...with you..." Clear stammered, the colour in his cheeks matching Aoba's. "But the other part was...also...good..."

"Y-Yeah, I-I enjoyed it, too."

Clear carefully moved so he was holding Aoba around the waist over the blanket, as if he were being cautious not to startle him. They weren't even actually making any skin-to-skin contact, but it was still so new and foreign for them to be close like this. Aoba could understand his tentativeness.

"Is this okay, Aoba?" Clear asked softly.

Aoba smiled and curled closer towards him. "Yeah." He closed his eyes and focused on the sound of Clear's breathing. He could hardly believe that only two days ago, he had been crying in the same spot he was now, worrying relentlessly about Clear and being angry at him for disappearing. He wasn’t alone now, though, and he wasn’t sad, but he felt himself starting to get misty-eyed.

"Are you alright?" Clear inquired.

"Yeah." He sniffed and tried to stop his tears from falling, to no avail. "I'm happy to have you back."

Clear kept holding him for a while, stroking his back through the layers of blanket, but then Aoba heard Clear's stomach grumble, reminding him that they hadn't eaten in a while.

"We should go downstairs and eat something," he suggested. "Do you think you can walk?"

Clear sat up with enthusiasm. He subsequently got out of bed and stood, though he wobbled a little bit. "I should be fine as long as we move slowly!"

Aoba's eyes flitted down Clear's body. "Also, uh...you're gonna need to put some pants on."

Clear huffed. "I find clothes to be uncomfortable. As a merperson, I never wore them."

"Will you wear them now?" Aoba was having a lot of trouble stopping himself from ogling Clear.

"Of course I will, Aoba! Anything for you."

Aoba went through his pyjama drawer and found some extra ones for Clear to wear, as well as some for himself. He was about to get dressed when he felt Clear hug him from behind.

"I love you so much," he whispered. He rubbed circles into Aoba's skin and pressed a kiss against his hair. "I never want to let go of you."

Aoba leaned into the embrace, smiling when Clear squeezed him tighter. "I love you, too."

A door slammed somewhere down the hall and they both jolted in shock. It would be very embarrassing for someone to catch them being romantic and gross, especially when they were both still naked and probably covered in hickies.

Aoba straightened himself up. "We should get dressed before anyone sees us."

"That's a good idea!"

They both dressed themselves without really looking at each other. Aoba had given Clear the biggest pyjamas he had, but once he put them on, it was obvious they were a bit too short.

"Aww, Aoba, you look so cute!"

Aoba looked down at his purple-and-yellow star-print pyjamas. "Thanks. You do, too." He patted Clear's fleece-covered shoulder. "It's a shame to think that you could have gone your whole life without wearing pyjamas! You're adorable in them." He pinched Clear's cheek, then led him out into the hallway.

Upon entering the kitchen, they found Koujaku pouring a cup of coffee.

"Morning, Aoba -- and company."

"Morning."

"Good morning! My name is Clear."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Koujaku." He shook Clear's hand. "Didn't you used be...?"

"Uh, yeah, he was a merman, and I guess he still is, kinda." He cleared his throat. "Toue never told him he could turn into a human if he left the water. All of the merpeople around the island can do that."

"That's great! It probably makes things easier for you guys, right?"

"Right," Clear said. "Though I feel bad for making Aoba worry."

Aoba squeezed Clear's arm in a reassuring gesture. "It's alright. I'm just happy that we can be together again."

Koujaku smiled. "I'm happy for you."

"Um..." Aoba fiddled with his sleeve. "When did you come home? Was anyone here last night?"

Koujaku swallowed a mouthful of his drink. "Me and Mink got home around eleven last night. Noiz must have come home later than us, but Mizuki never left."

"Mizuki never left?"

"Yeah, he wasn't feeling well so he stayed home from work yesterday. Spent the whole day in his room."

Aoba blanched. When he called out yesterday to see if anyone was home, Mizuki must have been sleeping. Aoba hoped he had been sleeping for a while after that. He glanced over at Clear, noting that he looked blissfully unaware of the situation.

"Anyway, I should be going to work, so I'll leave you two alone." He left the room and Aoba heard the front door shut a moment later.

Aoba's stomach rumbled and he folded his arms over himself. "I'm starving!"

"Would you like me to cook something, Aoba?"

"Um. Is that a thing you can do?"

"Yes! Grandfather taught me how. He said it was very important to learn skills like that." He looked up and off into the distance as if in thought. "He also taught me how to clean different things, and how to do laundry, and how to properly make a bed. Lots of basic household chores!"

Clear was standing perfectly straight and grinning and clearly very proud of himself. _Oh my God, he's the cutest thing I've ever seen! I love him so much! Fuck!_

"Alright, give it your best shot."

"I promise not to let you down, Aoba!"

Aoba wasn't sure he trusted Clear not to fuck up, so he kept close by so he could make sure he didn't make too much of a mess. After a few minutes, he started to relax because Clear looked like he knew what he was doing. He ended up making rice and a variety of vegetables arranged in a way that looked like Aoba's face.

"Oh, wow, that's so..." Aoba hesitated. "Cute. I like it!"

Clear absolutely _beamed_ and clapped his hands together. "I'm so glad!"

Once Aoba started to eat it, he realized it was actually really good. The vegetables were tender but not too soft, and they were seasoned well. How was Clear so good at cooking? Was he this good at everything else, too? Aoba had a feeling he had made a very good choice in partner.

When they had finished eating, Clear suggested they do something.

"Like what? You mean, go on a date?"

"We've never been on a date. Isn't that something people in relationships are supposed to do? Is it bad that we haven't done that yet?"

Aoba chuckled. "We haven't really done things in the proper order so far, Clear, so it's fine if we go on our first date now."

They put some normal clothes on -- Aoba had to lend Clear more of his clothes, and they still didn't exactly fit, but he didn't look totally ridiculous. He looked a lot better than he would have in his grandfather's clothes.

"Do you want to go in the wheelchair?" Aoba asked as they prepared to head out the door.

"No. Grandfather gave me a cane to use so I can get used to walking."

A cane? Aoba didn't remember seeing a cane. Clear dug through the pockets of the big, white trench coat the old man had given him and, sure enough, he pulled a cane out of the pocket.

"How did that fit in there?"

Clear shrugged. "How did I grow legs? Magic, probably."

Accepting that as a logical answer, Aoba took Clear's hand and they were off on their first-ever date. How exciting!

As they went down the sidewalk together, Aoba couldn't help but smile. Nobody was giving them weird looks (except for a few old people who were probably homophobes); they looked just like any other couple.

"Where do you want to go, Aoba?"

A million possibilities ran through Aoba's mind. "You haven't been anywhere, have you?"

Clear shook his head. "No, I haven't."

Aoba grinned. "Let's go everywhere!"

"Go...everywhere?"

"Yeah! Everywhere!"

Aoba first took Clear to the market, showing him all the different stands, including the one Aoba worked at.

"What do you do at your job, Aoba?"

Aoba shrugged. "I put the fish out, and I sell it to customers, and I deal with the money in the till. That's pretty much it."

"Do you think I could get a job someday?"

"Do you want to get a job?"

Clear smiled. "Yes! I would love to be able to provide for you, Aoba! Then we could get a house together and get a cat and kiss each other on the cheek before we go to work in the morning." He sighed dreamily. "Wouldn't that be lovely?"

Aoba pictured all of that in his head and couldn't help but smile. (He tried not to picture himself ageing at a much faster rate than Clear and eventually dying, leaving Clear all alone. It didn't work.)

"Yeah, that'd be nice."

Clear absently tapped at the ground with his cane. "How old do you have to be to work?"

"Uh, I'm not sure, but you're definitely old enough, I think. How old are you?"

"I think I'm around the same age as you, Aoba. Toue-san never told me how old I was, but Grandfather did some tests and he said he figured it out."

Aoba blinked. "Do you not have, like, a birth certificate or something?"

"Oh, that's right! Grandfather had me legally registered as a citizen. I haven't looked at this yet because there's a picture of my face on it, but you can see it if you want." He pulled out a card with his information on it. His picture on the card was actually really good, and Aoba cursed him for being so pretty.

"It says you're twenty-five."

"How old are you, Aoba?"

"Twenty-three."

"You don't look that old," Clear mumbled, looking at Aoba closely.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"N-Nothing! Just that you don't look that old. How old do I look?"

"You certainly don't look five years away from thirty, but that's probably because of the whole merperson thing."

"Right," Clear mumbled. He looked like he was thinking about something.

"What's on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing important."

Aoba shrugged and led Clear away from the market so they could go somewhere else. The quickest way to their next destination involved walking on the shoreline, so they did that.

"You've never been in the ocean, have you, Aoba?"

"Not that I can remember. I've always been afraid of it."

Clear hummed pensively. "I don't think I ever have to go in the water again, so if it makes it easier for you, I won't do it."

Aoba had a brief vision of Clear entering the ocean and his transformation being incomplete, causing him to drown because Aoba was too afraid to jump in and save him. He had no idea where it came from, so he tried not to dwell on it.

"That would be nice. But what about your brothers?"

"That's another thing. I should tell them about how Toue-san has lied to us. I should tell every merperson so they can live better lives."

"Will Toue like having his secret exposed?" Aoba didn't want Clear getting himself in trouble.

"No, but I don't mind getting on his bad side. He doesn't have any power over me anymore."

"If you say so," Aoba reasoned. "But let's not do it today, alright?"

Clear squeezed Aoba's hand. "Alright."

Aoba knew Clear was a big fan of undersea gardening, so he thought it would be nice to show him Midorijima's community garden.

"It's so pretty, Aoba! And look, there are so many tomato plants! I've never seen a real tomato plant before!" He dragged Aoba behind him by the hand like a little kid tugging their parent through a toy store. "There are so many plants to grow now that I'm not underwater anymore!"

"Isn't it exciting to be on the surface?"

"Yes!" Clear beamed, but his face fell a bit when he added, "Though I will miss all of my fish friends, and my home underwater. And I like having legs, but I miss having a tail sometimes."

Aoba patted him on the back. "It's normal to miss stuff like that."

"A-And," Clear said with a tremor in his voice, "I miss helping the baby turtles learn to walk, and collecting shells from the ocean floor..." He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "I'm very happy to be with you, Aoba, and I'm willing to sacrifice my life as a merperson for you, but it's -- it's upsetting, still. I'm very sorry."

Aoba could hardly believe he had made Clear feel he had to give up half of his identity for their relationship to survive. His fear of the water was nothing compared to how much he loved Clear and wanted him to be happy. "Don't be sorry. It's not fair for you to give all that up for me. I don't mind if you go back when you miss it a lot, as long as you aren't gone too long."

Clear gasped a little bit, then let his cane fall to the ground as he dove forward and trapped Aoba in a hug.

"Aoba, you're so kind! I'm so grateful to have you as my partner!"

Aoba blushed. "Well, I mean...I'd be a huge dick if I made you abandon your whole life to be with me, right? I couldn't do that to you."

"I would do anything for you, Aoba; after what I did to you, I'm just grateful you're letting me in your life."

"Stop saying things like that! It's not your fault, so stop acting like you're forever indebted to me or something. I forgive you."

"I don't forgive myself."

Aoba pulled Clear down by his shoulders so their foreheads were together. "I want you to. You said you'd do anything for me, right? I want you to forgive yourself. I'm with you because I want to be, and I'm just as lucky to have you as you are to have me, so stop beating yourself up about it."

Clear's eyes filled with tears again, but he was smiling. "I'll try as hard as I can, Aoba."

They were so wrapped up in themselves that they hadn't noticed the grey clouds rolling in. Before they knew it, the rain had started to fall, ruining their moment. Clear cried out in shock, and Aoba giggled at him. It was cold, sure, but it wasn't that big of a deal; it was actually kind of romantic, the way they were holding each other in the rain. Aoba was in no rush to run for shelter.

"Aoba, aren't you getting cold? We should go!" He looked around frantically, probably searching for something to provide cover. "I should have brought my coat! There was an umbrella in the pocket."

"Kiss me," Aoba whispered.

"W-What?"

"Kiss me! It's so romantic to kiss in the rain!"

Aoba could feel his own shirt soaking through. Clear's looked to be in a similar state.

"If you say so," Clear mumbled before pulling Aoba very close and bringing their lips together. Aoba fisted his hands in the back of Clear's shirt, noting how wet the fabric was. It couldn't have been comfortable, but it clung to his body and it was kind of hot. It made Aoba remember how Clear's body looked when they were intimate the night before and that sent him reeling. He broke the kiss out of fear that he would get an erection in public.

"We should go home."

Clear ran a hand through Aoba's now-wet hair, pushing his bangs back from his face. "You're right, Aoba. I don't want you to get sick."

"You could get sick, too, dummy."

Aoba walked Clear back to his grandfather's house, despite Clear's constant reassurances that he could walk by himself and that Aoba didn't need to spend any more time in the rain than he had to. Before he left, Aoba asked Clear if he wanted to come over the next day to meet his friends.

"Sure! That sounds like fun! I could make dinner, if you want."

"I'm sure they would love that. I work until four, but you could come over around four-thirty, if that's okay."

"Yes, that will be fine!" He kissed Aoba before reaching for the doorknob. "I can hardly wait to see you again!"

Aoba smiled. "Me, neither."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't believe this is almost over omg how am i almost done with this... im in shock
> 
> also the mermaid business isn't over yet. just bc Clear's a human now doesn't mean this isn't still a mermaid au


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clear meets Aoba's friends, Aoba gets a little drunk, and they both get a little nasty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is almost entirely clear's pov but there is a special guest pov at the end!! also i love writing smut from clear's pov, i feel like his internal monologue is a lot filthier than we imagine

Clear put on the nicest clothes he could find and tried to make his hair not look like a dandelion puff because he really wanted to impress Aoba's friends! He wanted them to accept him and genuinely like him, though he figured it would be difficult because he wasn't human like the rest of them. Aoba loved him just the way he was, human or not, but Clear knew that was rare. He was extremely lucky to have someone like that. Most people would be off-put by the fact that he was of a different species.

He went to the grocery store (the same one Aoba had shown him) to get some ingredients before heading over. He wasn't sure what kinds of things Aoba had at home, and he also didn't want to use up all of their food, so he chose to bring everything he would need. Dealing with the cashier was kind of nerve-wracking, having never done it before, but he figured he would get better at it as time went on. His social anxiety would go away eventually, right? He sure hoped so.

Clear took a deep breath before knocking on Aoba's front door. Aoba was supposed to be the only one home, but it still made him nervous, knowing what he would eventually have to face.

"Hey!" Aoba said when he opened the door to let Clear in.

"Hi, sweetheart!"

Aoba blushed. "S-S-Sweetheart?"

"Yes! You're my sweetheart!" He squished Aoba's cheeks together with his hands and kissed him on the nose.

"Whatever," Aoba grumbled. He pulled Clear inside and shut the door. There was music playing faintly in the background, and Clear wondered if Aoba had put it on in advance to create a certain ambiance.

"I brought the ingredients!" Clear said, lifting the shopping bag to show Aoba what he was talking about. "When should I start cooking? It will take about an hour."

Aoba hummed. "You should probably start soon. Maybe not right now, but in half an hour?"

"Okay. What do you want to do in the meantime?"

Aoba bit his lip and his eyes darted around. "I dunno." He crossed his arms and uncrossed them, then looked Clear in the eye. "Do you wanna dance with me?"

_Oh my gosh, he's the cutest person in the whole world! I just want to hug him and never let him go!_

"I can't dance, Aoba. I can hardly walk."

Aoba looked at the floor. "You're right. That was a stupid thing to ask. I'm sorry."

Clear felt guilty for shooting down Aoba's idea. He knew he would only embarrass himself if he tried to dance, but he really wanted Aoba to stop looking so dejected, so he resigned himself to it. "No, it wasn't stupid! How am I supposed to learn to dance if I never try it? You can teach me!"

Aoba looked up again. "You really want to?"

Clear nodded. "Yes!"

Aoba smiled. "Great! Follow me." He led Clear to the living room, where Aoba's phone was attached to a set of speakers. He fiddled with his phone for a minute until a slower song started playing.

"You're taller, so you should lead," he said. He took Clear's hands and placed them on his waist. "So you just step with your right foot, then kind of slide your left foot over, then do the same thing but the other way around."

Clear blinked. "Um -- okay, I'll try." He took a deep breath and tried his very hardest to do as Aoba described to the beat of the music. It was more difficult than he thought it would be.

"Relax your shoulders," Aoba instructed. "And try to move everything together, instead of thinking of everything as separate. You know?"

"I think I get it."

Clear knew he was the opposite of graceful, and that he wasn't going to be able to properly dance with Aoba. It wasn't really his fault, because he had gone most of his life without legs, but he still felt bad about it. He tried to follow Aoba's movements without actually following him (after all, Clear was supposed to be leading) but it was really hard!

"Stop thinking so hard about it. Just move with me. Forget what I said earlier; just do whatever feels natural."

Clear took a deep breath and pulled Aoba even closer, shifting his weight between his feet and slowly turning them in a circle. It was a lot easier than trying to follow Aoba's instructions.

"I guess everyone starts somewhere," Aoba sighed, resting his head on Clear's chest.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, sweetheart."

"You can't call me sweetheart! You have to find a different name for me."

"I'll have to find something more embarrassing, then." He hummed. "How about I call you cuddle bug? Or sugar bear? Or honey bunny?"

"I wouldn't mind any of those."

"What about cupcake? That one's adorable. And you kind of look like a vanilla cupcake!"

"Because of my hair?"

Aoba laughed. "Yeah!"

"That's cute! I like it."

"Now I want you to think of something specific for me! 'Sweetheart' is too general."

Clear thought for a moment. "What about blueberry? Or bluebird? Something to do with the colour blue?"

Aoba looked like he was feigning a hurt expression. "Is that all I am to you? Just a big lump of blue hair?"

"Maybe I should call you tater tot, since you're a big potato."

"Or sweet cheeks because of my ass!"

Clear started to laugh. "I guess that would work, too." He had never really paid that much attention to it before, since most of their time spent together had been sitting on the rock, but Aoba had a very attractive body. Clear didn't like focusing on Aoba's physical characteristics when he could focus on his whole self instead, but he had to note that Aoba's rear end was absolutely incredible. Clear had no idea how he was so slender everywhere else when his ass was that thick, but --

_I need to stop._

"It's almost five," Aoba noted. "Do you wanna start cooking now?"

"Sure! I will come up with a pet name for you later. It's better if it's spontaneous!" He lightly squeezed Aoba's backside, smiling when Aoba squeaked in surprise, before going to fetch his bag of ingredients.

He wasn't as good a cook as Aoba seemed to think he was, but Clear knew he wasn't bad, either. He chose to make a beef stew, because he knew it was Aoba's favourite.

As he and Aoba chopped up the vegetables, he confided in him about his anxiety.

"What if your friends don't like me, Aoba? Or what if I'm so nervous about getting nervous that I get _really_ nervous and do something embarrassing?"

"Clear, I'm sure they'll love you! How could they not? You're the sweetest person in the whole world."

Clear was so anxious he didn't even smile at Aoba's kind words. "There's a very big chance they won't like me! I'm not even the same species as them!"

Aoba sighed and set his knife down. "Maybe you should drink something," he suggested quietly. "It'll make you less nervous."

"Drink something? Like alcohol? I've never drank before, Aoba."

"It won't hurt if you just have a little bit!" Aoba assured. He went into the cupboard and took out a tiny glass, then poured a clear liquid into it. He handed it to Clear.

"It's very small, Aoba. Is it supposed to be this small?"

"Yes! It has a very high percentage of alcohol, so you don't need as much." He poured another one. "I'll take one, too, so you won't feel as weird about it."

Clear peered at it with scrutiny. "What does it taste like?"

"Bad. It's very bad."

"Then why do you drink it?"

"Because it makes me more fun!"

"I think you're plenty of fun already, Aoba."

"Too bad! I already poured it."

"Is this peer pressure? Grandfather warned me about this."

"Yes, I'm peer pressuring you! We're in high school and the year is nineteen ninety-one. Peer pressure is totally a thing that happens."

Clear pouted. "Is this really that important to you?"

Aoba shrugged. "I'm not gonna force you to do something you don't wanna do."

Clear shook his head. "No, I'll do it, Aoba. I want to experience as many things as I can with you. If I don't like it, I won't do it again, but it doesn't hurt to try."

"That's the spirit! Now...one, two, three, shot!"

Aoba tossed his head back and swallowed the liquid, so Clear did the same. It was pretty gross, and Clear almost gagged, but he didn't. Aoba's face was scrunching up with disgust and he covered his mouth with his hand.

"Fuck," he croaked, shuddering. "That's disgusting. What did you think?"

"It wasn't that bad."

Aoba narrowed his eyes. "Really? You've never drank before, but you're fine with taking a shot? I find that hard to believe."

Clear shrugged. "I don't understand it either, Aoba."

The alcohol's effects kicked in after a few minutes, but all it did was take the edge off of Clear's anxiety. He was still able to finish cooking without making any mistakes.

"Wow, it smells really good in here!" Someone said after the front door opened and shut.

Aoba peeked his head out to greet them. "It's my boyfriend! He's cooking!"

"You have a boyfriend? I thought you were seeing that mermaid guy?"

"He is the mermaid guy! Come say hi!"

Aoba walked into the kitchen with a man a few inches taller than him with dark, tan skin and a teardrop tattoo on his face.

"Hi, I'm Mizuki."

"Nice to meet you! My name is Clear, and I'm Aoba's boyfriend."

Mizuki shook his hand, then gestured to all the food on the stovetop. "So what's all this?"

"I'm making dinner for everyone! Aoba suggested I get to know all of you, and I thought this would be a good way to do that."

"That's very nice of you!"

Clear chatted with Mizuki for a while, explaining the whole merman-to-human thing and asking Mizuki questions about his job. Mizuki seemed to like talking to him, and Clear liked talking to Mizuki. Things were good.

"Holy shit, I'm starving. Is someone making food?"

A blond kid with piercings walked into the room, scratching his face. Clear greeted him and found out his name was Noiz. He wasn't as friendly as Mizuki had been, but he wasn't rude. He also seemed interested in Clear's life, going as far as asking in-depth questions about his biology. Unfortunately, Clear couldn't answer a lot of his questions because he simply didn't know that much about himself, but he appreciated Noiz's interest.

Koujaku was the next one to come in, and he was followed by the largest man Clear had ever seen.

"Hey!" Koujaku greeted. "Are you making dinner for us? How sweet!"

"Yes, I am! Aoba suggested it."

The large man walked over, looming over Clear and making him feel very small. He stuck his hand out. "I'm Mink."

Clear shook his hand, sending him the most saccharine smile he could manage, which should have been enough to knock Mink unconscious. "It's so nice to meet you! I'm Aoba's boyfriend, Clear."

Mink didn't even flinch. He grunted and nodded once, then walked away, leaving Clear frozen in shock.

"He's like that with everyone," Aoba whispered in his ear. "It took almost six months to get him to address me directly."

Clear tried not to let Mink's demeanour bring him down. He kept smiling and clapped his hands together. "Okay, everyone, please sit down at the table! I'll bring the food out."

"I'll help," Aoba added.

Aoba carried the large pot of stew, and Clear spooned it out into everyone's bowls. Aoba also poured some sake into everyone's cups. They all thanked them and started to eat.

"Oh my God, Clear, this is so good!" Aoba raved, shovelling it into his mouth. He honestly looked like he was enjoying it.

"I agree," Koujaku said. Mizuki and Noiz mumbled in agreement, too, and even Mink nodded. Clear felt his chest swell with pride and he was happy to receive such a positive reaction from Aoba's friends.

"Thank you so much!"

"So, Aoba, does this mean you're moving out?" Noiz asked with his mouth full of food.

Aoba straightened up. "Ehh? Why would I be moving out?"

"Aren't you gonna live with your boyfriend?"

Clear glanced at Aoba only to find that Aoba had glanced over at him. "Um, we'll probably eventually live together at some point, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon. Neither one of us can afford to live with just us two right now."

"Oh. That's cool."

Out of the corner of his eye, Clear saw Aoba down the rest of his sake and pour another cup. Clear drank some of his, too, noticing after a while that it made him feel less worried about making a good impression. Everyone started drinking more and Aoba had to run to the kitchen to grab another bottle, and then another, and then another.

"Hey, Aoba," Mizuki mumbled, resting his head on the table. His cheeks were lightly flushed. "I think I heard you guys having sex the other day."

"Oh, shit, really?" Aoba said, laughing.

"I'm so sorry!" Clear frantically apologized. "We didn't mean to disturb you."

"Nah, it's fine. I'm pretty used to hearing people have sex around here," Mizuki said with a pointed glare at Koujaku and Mink.

"W-What are you talking about?" Koujaku asked, defensive. "We've never..."

"Lying is bad for the soul, Red," Mink said quietly.

Aoba cackled out a laugh and slumped over against Clear's side. "You guys are so gay!"

"So are we, Aoba."

Aoba kept laughing, and he fell over so he was lying down in Clear's lap. "You're right!"

Clear pulled Aoba up until he was sitting upright again. "Aoba, are you drunk?"

"Maybe just a little bit."

"You shouldn't drink any more. We're going to see my brothers tomorrow, right? I don't want you to feel hungover." Clear definitely felt a little woozy in the head, but he didn't think he was as drunk as Aoba. Not that he really knew, anyway; it was his first time.

"Isn't he great?" Aoba asked everyone else at the table. "Clear's great, isn't he? Look at him! Look at his face!"

"He's got a nice face," Mizuki agreed.

"That's nice of you to say," Clear said, suddenly bashful.

"He's never seen his own face. Can you believe that?"

Clear was slightly angry that Aoba had announced that to everyone, but he knew Aoba's inhibitions were decreased, so it wasn't really his fault. Still, his eyes narrowed and he shot Aoba a brief glare.

"How can you avoid that?" Noiz asked. "What happens when you have to take a piss? There are mirrors in every bathroom."

Clear shrugged. "I close my eyes."

They talked for another hour or so, but then Clear noticed everyone was finished eating, so he got up to collect and wash the dishes.

"I'll do those!" Mizuki called.

"No, no, I'll wash them!" Clear said. "I insist!"

Mizuki shook his head and made to get up. "No, you've been so kind to us already! It's the least I can do."

Clear held his hands out, backing away to the kitchen. "No, it was so kind of you to welcome me into your home! I really should take care of the mess I made."

"Let him wash the damn dishes," Aoba muttered to Clear, tugging on his pant leg. "I wanna go upstairs with you."

Clear sighed and let Mizuki win. "Thank you for being so kind, Mizuki. I appreciate it."

"The pleasure is mine!"

Clear followed Aoba upstairs to his bedroom. "What did you want to do up here, Aoba?"

"Take a wild guess."

"B-But, your friends are right downstairs..."

"You know," Aoba purred, ignoring Clear's feeble protests, "I wouldn't mind if you drew me again."

"You want me to draw you?"

"Yes." Aoba looked around until he found a sheet of lined paper and a pencil. He handed them to Clear and gave him a book to use as a hard surface to draw on.

Clear took the supplies and settled in the chair that was across from Aoba's bed. "I'd like to draw you nude, Aoba, if that's okay with you. Your body is so beautiful and I would like to try my hand at putting in on paper."

"I was about to suggest the same thing," Aoba said as he started to remove his clothes. Drunk Aoba was certainly more forward than regular Aoba, and it came as a shock to Clear. He wasn't sure if he could handle Aoba like this; he might be too much for him.

Once Aoba was naked, he sat on the bed and stared at Clear with very sultry eyes. "Draw me like one of your French girls."

Clear blinked. "What?"

Aoba's eyes widened. "Oh my God, you've never seen _Titanic!_ We have to watch it. You'll cry your eyes out."

Clear smiled. "I'd like that, Aoba."

Aoba got into the same position he had been in when he modelled for Clear the first time, but now he was naked and it was a million times more erotic.

"Clear?"

"Yes?"

"Take your clothes off, too. That way it's even."

Clear laughed. "Whatever you say, Aoba."

Aoba whistled as Clear undressed, so Clear grinned and put a bit of enthusiasm into it, swaying his hips and rolling his upper body. Aoba seemed to like that a lot.

Once Clear's clothes had joined Aoba's in their pile on the floor, he sat back down on the chair and pulled his sketchbook into his lap again.

"I'm going to need you to hold very still, Aoba."

Aoba grinned. "I can do that."

Clear put the pencil to the paper and sketched out the basic lines of Aoba's pose, then went back in and added more detail. His breath came more quickly as he had to focus in on the intimate areas of Aoba's body, and each time his eyes flitted back up to make sure he was copying the image correctly, he noticed Aoba's cheeks growing pinker and his eyes growing hazier. It only took one look at Aoba's groin to see that he was getting aroused, much like Clear himself was. Aoba's legs were spread so invitingly, and his back was arched in such a way that his chest begged for Clear to put his mouth on it.

Aoba cleared his throat audibly, then spoke. "Clear?"

Clear jolted a little bit, concentration broken, and he held the book down over his lap to cover himself. "Yes, Aoba?"

"Put the book on the floor."

"B-But I'm not done yet!"

"You can finish later. Put it on the floor."

Clear reluctantly set his supplies on the floor beside him. Aoba sat up and slipped off the bed gracefully, then walked over to Clear and sat in his lap, straddling him. He gazed at Clear with unmistakable lust in his eyes.

"A-Aoba..."

"Do you want me?" Aoba breathed into Clear's ear. The sound of his voice made Clear's cock throb and he felt the urge to grind against him.

"Yes, Aoba, I want you." He gingerly placed his hands on Aoba's ass and rubbed circles into the flesh with his thumbs.

Aoba's breath hitched. "I've been thinking a lot about what we did the other night," he confessed. "When I got home yesterday, I touched myself while thinking about you."

"R-R-Really?" Clear choked out. _This is too much. Aoba is too much._

"Yeah. I imagined it was your hands on my body, and your cock inside me...but it wasn't half as good as the real thing would have been."

Clear shut his eyes. If he wasn't careful, his head would explode. "You can have the real thing now, if you want," he whispered.

"Believe me, baby, I want it."

Clear looked down Aoba's body, from his blushing face to his delicate chest to the electric blue hair framing his swollen cock. He swallowed the thick feeling in his throat and looked into Aoba's eyes again. "I want it, too."

Aoba smiled lazily and draped his arms over Clear's shoulders, pulling him close and kissing him. As they practically ate each other's faces, Clear worked up the nerve to slide his hand between their bodies, starting to stroke them both at the same time.

"Fuck," Aoba moaned with his tongue still in Clear's mouth. "Keep doing that."

Clear brought his other hand behind Aoba, gently circling his hole with his index finger.

"Wait, wait, gimme a sec," Aoba mumbled. He got up from Clear's lap to go dig around in his bedside table. He bent over to check the bottom drawer, and Clear was pretty sure he was arching his back intentionally. After a few seconds, he shut the drawer and walked over to straddle Clear again, bottle of lube in hand.

Clear took the bottle from him, coating two of his fingers and using them to massage Aoba's entrance again. It had only been two days since the first time they had done it, but he wasn't sure that he remembered how to make Aoba feel good.

"Come on," Aoba muttered. He reached behind himself and grabbed Clear's hand, guiding it inside.

Aoba was warm and pliant around his fingers and Clear could hardly wait to be inside of him. After a few minutes of fingering him, Clear voiced his desire.

"Yeah, you can go in now." He stepped away and turned around, then straddled Clear's lap facing the other way instead. "I wanna do it like this, is that alright?"

Clear wrapped his hands around Aoba's middle and pulled him back against his chest. "But then I can't see your face."

Aoba swirled his hips a little, rubbing his slick hole against the head of Clear's cock. "You can see my face when we're done."

Clear couldn't deny that Aoba looked good from this angle; he had his hands on his own ass, spreading himself apart as he swallowed Clear up, slowly sinking down on him. Once he was fully seated, he relaxed against Clear's body to let himself adjust. Clear tried his absolute hardest to stay still, but the feeling of Aoba squeezing him was intense and he wasn't sure how much longer he could wait. Luckily, Aoba started to move after about a minute.

Clear felt Aoba place his hands on his knees to support his weight as he slid himself up and down, over and over again.

"C-Clear," Aoba moaned, "You feel so..."

Clear gently turned Aoba's face to the side and kissed along his jaw. "If you're too noisy, everyone will hear, Aoba."

He rested his chin on Aoba's shoulder as he listened to him go on about how little he cared, but while he distractedly glanced around Aoba's bedroom he caught a glimpse of movement in the far corner of the room. It took almost a full minute for him to realize that it was a full-body mirror, and the people he was looking at were, in fact, himself and Aoba.

"Oh my gosh," he whispered in disbelief.

"I know, right?"

"N-No, I mean -- my face. I can see my face."

"What? Where are you...?" Aoba gasped. "Oh, fuck, I'm sorry! I totally meant to cover it up! It wasn't here the last time you came over, so I forgot about it..."

"It's alright. I'm not mad." The room was poorly lit, and the mirror was a few feet away, so he couldn't really see. He wanted to, though.

Holding Aoba tightly against his chest by his inner thighs, he stood up and kicked the chair closer to the mirror with his foot.

"Holy shit, you're strong. Have you always been this strong?"

Clear didn't answer him. On impulse, he turned the light on before sitting down again.

He could see his face much better now. Aoba had been right; his face was totally normal and human and actually kind of nice, not horrifying and grotesque like Toue had promised it was. Clear was furious he had been lied to, but his anger dissipated when he noticed how good he and Aoba looked together. Their bodies looked perfect all wrapped around each other, like they were supposed to be together.

"Beautiful..."

"That's right," Aoba whispered, holding Clear's arms which were squeezing around his waist. "You are."

"We're beautiful," Clear corrected. "We look beautiful together."

Aoba brought Clear's hand up to his mouth and kissed his fingertips, then nibbled on them. He started to move his hips again, gazing at Clear in the mirror the whole time.

"Aoba," Clear breathed against Aoba's neck, "I l-love you so much, you're...everything to me..."

"I love you, too," Aoba nearly groaned in a rush. He sounded like he was getting close.

Clear felt very narcissistic, but he couldn't decide between watching Aoba bouncing in his lap or looking at his own reflection. Aoba was so enticing and seductive and erotic, but...well, Clear had never seen his own face before. Had it been any other context, he wouldn't have hesitated to stare at nothing but his own face for hours on end. It was unfortunate he happened to see it for the first time while he was balls-deep in his boyfriend.

He ultimately decided to focus his attention on Aoba, who had just grabbed Clear's hands, bringing one to his chest and the other to his cock. Clear got the message, stroking Aoba's body in what he hoped was the right way. Aoba made an _mmm_ sound and tossed his head back, throwing his hips in a circle.

Clear started to feel an urgency growing in his hips, so on impulse, he pushed Aoba up so they were standing against the mirror. Aoba wobbled a little bit, shocked at the drastic change in position, but he rolled with it. Clear gently held both of Aoba's wrists up against the mirror with one hand and used the other to squeeze his ass (for stabilizing purposes, of course).

"Is this alright with you?" Clear asked, voice tight.

"Y-Yes!" Aoba cried. "It's perfect!"

Clear could feel Aoba's body start to shake, and then he moaned rather loudly and bucked his hips as he made a mess of his mirror. Clear came a few seconds later, pinning Aoba against the mirror and grinding deeper into him to ride it out.

At least five minutes must have passed by the time Aoba gently shrugged Clear off of him, backing away from the (now-smudged) mirror and sitting on the floor. He left a cloud of condensation on the glass which quickly evaporated.

"I got come all over my stomach when you held me against the mirror," Aoba grumbled, looking down at himself.

Clear wrapped an arm around Aoba's waist and kissed the top of his head. "I'm sorry. Did you enjoy it otherwise?"

Aoba nodded with a laugh. "You kinda took me by surprise there!"

"The changes in position were done on impulse, but I thought you would like it."

"I did." Aoba nuzzled against Clear's shoulder, but he pulled away after a minute or two. "We should get cleaned up. Do you wanna come shower with me?"

Clear smiled. "Sure!"

*     *     *

Mizuki tentatively loosened his grip on the pillow he had been squeezing around his ears. He didn't hear any moans or thumps or passionate cries of anyone's name, so he exhaled in relief and shut his eyes, enjoying the silence while it lasted.

It lasted for a total of five minutes until he heard the shower running and the unmistakeable sound of Aoba giggling.

Mizuki sighed and grabbed the pillow again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor mizuki
> 
> next chapter has a lot of action (not sex action, regular action)


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clear revisits his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yall ready for this?? da na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na
> 
> rly tho there's a very slight amount of violence and a mention of death in this chapter so maybe don't read it if that makes you uncomfortable. if u don't want to read it u can comment and I'll give you a summary but it really isn't that intense

Clear met Aoba at the fish stand so they could head down to the beach together. They were going to confront Clear's brothers, to assure them Clear was okay and to teach them about the true limits of their bodies.

After the night they had spent together, Aoba found himself getting kind of flustered when he made eye contact with Clear. They had both been drinking, so he supposed that was mostly to blame for the risqué nature of their activities, but it was still embarrassing! They had gotten _real_ nasty and it made Aoba blush just thinking about it.

"Hello, Aoba!" Clear greeted, taking Aoba by the hand. "How was work?"

"It was alright."

"Were you able to stand on your feet all day? I take full responsibility for any wobbliness you may have experienced."

Aoba scoffed with indignation. "We're in public, you pervert!"

Clear giggled and swung their linked hands.

"Are you excited to see your brothers again? I'm pretty sure they still think you're dead."

"You never did tell me about how you met my brothers! I want to know."

"Well, when I went down to the shore with the fish tank on the night I was supposed to get you out of the ocean, I asked Alpha Two where you were and he said he thought you were with me. He went and tried to look for you, but he couldn't find you anywhere, and Alpha One started crying and we all sat on the beach and waited for you." He tried not to cry at the memory. "I kept going back for a while to see them, and I even got them to take their masks off when I said you turned out to have a pretty face. They're actually very nice, and they missed you a lot."

"Even Alpha One?"

"Yeah. He said the only reason he was so mean to you was because he wanted you to spend more time with them, instead of spending it with me. He felt bad about it, and that's why he cried so much."

"Did you cry that night, too, Aoba?" Clear's tone was somber.

Aoba scowled at the pavement. "Yes. I cried every day."

Clear stopped walking and pulled Aoba into a suffocating hug. "I'm sorry, Aoba. I'm sorry and I wish I could change the way it happened. I hate myself for causing you so much pain."

"Stop that! I'm not mad at you anymore! I _was_ mad, and I wanted to punch you at least two more times, but I understand the situation now." He lowered his voice. "I love you, and I know that we don't have as much time to spend together as we'd like to have, so we shouldn't spend it dwelling on the past. Let's move forward from now on, okay?" He pecked Clear on the chin where his moles were.

"I love you, too, Aoba, and I'll do whatever it takes to never hurt you again."

Aoba smiled. He kissed Clear's chin again, then started walking. "There was something else I wanted to talk to you about. Do you still want a job?"

"Yes, Aoba. Why?"

"I know the guy who runs the market, and I could probably get you a job. You like making art, right? You could sell your drawings and stuff. You're really good, so people would pay a lot for your work."

"Oh, I don't know about a _lot,_ Aoba," Clear dismissed bashfully. "But I would appreciate you doing that for me! What made you think of that?"

"Well, it's just...I have some money saved up, and houses around here are pretty cheap, so maybe you and I could move in together. It wouldn't be so hard if we were both working."

Clear gasped and his face lit up. "You would really want to live with me, Aoba? That would be so wonderful!"

"Then we'd stop bothering Mizuki at night," Aoba chuckled.

"We'll be like a cute married couple! We can have a garden, and we can paint the rooms, and snuggle all we want without getting caught!"

"I'd like that a lot."

When they got to the shore, the Alphas weren't there.

"They're probably underwater," Clear said. "I'll call them." He went over to the edge of the rocks and stuck his head under for a few seconds, then came back up. "They'll hear me better if I call from under the water."

Aoba giggled. From the time spent in the ocean, Clear's ears had started to grow bigger and more fin-like. They were barely even halfway transformed, but it still looked funny.

"What are you laughing at?" Clear asked, smiling.

"Your ears got a little bit big, like they used to be."

"Really?" Clear touched his ears instinctively, then looked at his hands. "My fingers got kind of webbed, too! Though it's disappearing now."

Two damp puffs of white hair popped up from under the sea.

"Oh my gosh, it's him!"

"Clear!"

"You're alive!"

"Wow!"

"You have legs!"

"So cool!"

Clear got on his knees again and hugged each of them. "I missed you so much."

"We missed you, too!"

Aoba stood there awkwardly as he watched the happy family reunite. They cried and apologized for their previous behaviour and blubbered about how much they loved each other. After about ten minutes, they calmed down and separated.

Alpha One patted Clear's knee. "Look at this! Where did it come from?"

"You can have legs, too, if you come out of the water."

"No way! Toue says that'll kill us!"

Clear smirked. "Toue-san also said we were ugly, but look at us!"

Alpha Two, suddenly looking very determined, started to drag himself out of the water.

"A-Alpha! What are you doing?!"

"Don't you trust our brother?"

Alpha One hesitated, but he, too, pulled himself up onto the rocky shore. In a few short minutes, their tails slowly morphed into legs. It was an interesting thing to witness; their tails gradually shrank and split off into two and their legs became more and more detailed. Their fishy ears shrank, too, and their scales seemingly retracted into their skin.

"I brought you some pants to put on," Clear said curtly, tossing them each a pair without looking at them. Aoba supposed he was embarrassed at the notion of seeing his brothers naked, which was weird, because they looked almost exactly like him.

"How long did it take you to get used to walking?"

"I'm still not totally used to it yet, but I had an injury which slowed down the process. I can't say how long it will take you."

Alpha Two started to stand up. Aoba held his hand out to provide some support, and then he was totally upright.

"Ha! This is easy!" He took a few shaky steps, then took some backwards. After a minute or two, he was able to stand on his own.

"Your injury must have been pretty bad," Alpha One teased as he, too, managed to stand up.

"Shut up and put your pants on," Clear grumbled.

"How is this possible?" Alpha Two asked as he fought to get the pants on his legs.

"There's a man you have to meet! He's the one who saved me. When we get to his house, he'll explain the whole thing!"

While Clear went on about his grandfather, Aoba noticed a figure emerging from the bushes. It looked like the silhouette of a man in an ugly hat.

"Nobody thought to invite me to the party? How rude."

The three mermen all stood straight up and turned to the source of the sound.

It was Toue.

"Why do you think we would want to see you?" Clear barked. "We know you've been lying to us."

"Oh, Clear. Always so quick to rebel!" Toue laughed, and the sound was strangely jolly and warm; totally unfitting for the situation. "Do you know why I named you Clear, rather than Alpha?"

Clear just glared at Toue, though he looked cautious.

"Your bloodline is definitely the most obedient and skilled at singing than anyone else, but you in particular are almost...defective. You questioned me far too much, and your singing was barely persuasive. You had no substance; you were totally empty and transparent. That's why I named you Clear, so I would always remember how subpar you were."

"I don't believe you," Clear whispered weakly.

Aoba coiled his arm around Clear's waist protectively. "Don't talk to him like that!" He snapped at Toue. "What gives you the right?"

"I have plenty of reason to talk down to my own property. That includes you, Aoba."

Aoba got a weird feeling in his stomach and his legs started to shake. "I-I'm not your property. I don't even know you!"

Toue laughed. "You're mine, Aoba, and I'm finally coming to collect you." He grabbed Aoba and held him against him so they were both still facing Clear. He then pulled a knife from his pocket and held it against Aoba's throat. Aoba could feel the blade pressing against his skin and he was so terrified that his whole body trembled.

"Let go of him!" Clear cried, making to lunge at him.

"If you move," Toue said in a calm voice, "I will slit his throat. At this point, I don't care whether he lives or dies. I have his DNA, so I can make a new one."

Aoba wasn't really focusing on the people around him as much as he was focused on the knife against his neck, but he did notice that Clear looked very conflicted. His face was all scrunched up with anger and his arms were slightly held out, fingers curled like claws, but he stayed in the same spot.

"Fine," Clear spat. "But if you do _anything_ to him, I'll kill you."

Toue nodded. "Now that we're all in agreement, I'll begin my story. I'm sure, by now, you're all wondering what I'm up to, right?"

"Yes, Master," the Alphas droned out of habit. Clear didn't say anything.

"When I was first starting out my career, I thought, 'What can I do to gain control of the population with as minimal effort as possible?' The answer was to have someone else do it for me. Or rather, a group of someone elses. I came across you, and I was impressed by the mind control potential in your singing. I studied and trained your kind for years until I came across several flaws in your species, so I tried to...improve on it." He paused, probably just for the theatrics. "I tried to genetically engineer a species of permanent merpeople, unable to switch back and forth like you have the ability to. Unfortunately, that didn't go as planned.

"When the boys, whom I viewed as my own children, were old enough to walk on their own, I began to experiment on them. The first one, named Ren, was chosen to undergo a series of biopsies in order to determine how they were developing. He died in the process.

"I waited a few years before I designated the second child, Sly, to be tested for resilience to illness. After all, I wouldn't want my supposedly flawless species to die out from a mere case of influenza, right? He, too, died in the process of experimentation.

"The third child, Sei, was nearly six years old when I tested his transformation abilities. In an effort to make his transformation permanent, I forced him to stay in a designated area of the ocean. His body wasn't mature enough to handle the force of the transformation, though, and he also perished. It was a gruesome sight."

Aoba had a terrible vision in his head of a little boy with black hair drowning ten feet from where he stood. He remembered being too terrified of the ocean to go in himself to rescue him. It felt so real that he trembled.

"How could you do something so disgusting?" Clear asked in horror.

"I loved them, but they truly had one purpose. They were mine to experiment on. I created them, so it was up to me what happened to them and what they were used for."

"That's not true," Clear hissed through gritted teeth. "Just because you made them didn't mean you could do whatever you wanted! You had a responsibility to protect them and do what was best for them, and you failed. How can you live with yourself?!" He clenched his fists which shook with anger. "Even with us, you said things that weren't true and trained us the way you wanted so we would serve you. How could we think for ourselves if we didn't know any better? How could you do something like that?! Don't you realize how twisted that is?!"

Toue dug the blade further against Aoba's flesh, drawing blood. "I advise you don't interrupt me again, Clear."

Clear's upper lip curled and Aoba could see his entire top line of teeth. He looked scary.

Toue simply continued to speak. "It occurred to me, after their deaths, that I may have made an error while creating them. Luckily, I still had one child left that I decided to utilize as a backup. I kept him on land, choosing to save him as a last resort in case the experiments went wrong. After they did, I made the decision to wait until he was fully mature before carrying on with my research. I let him go and I distanced myself from him so he could grow up on his own, without my interference, though I kept a very close eye on him. I trained the preexisting merpeople instead, though their song was less powerful at the time.

"It pained me to be apart from him for so long, but I did it in the name of science. He was my favourite child; so well-behaved, so eager to please." He dug the knife in a little bit more and it stung sharply. "It's a shame he's so different now."

"W-W-What...are you...talking about?" Aoba choked in a dry, tight voice.

Toue cackled. "The backup was you, Aoba! It's finally time to test whether you were worth the effort or not."

He released his hold on him, which made Aoba breathe a sigh of relief.

Then Toue pushed him into the sea.

*     *     *

Aoba had just stumbled off of the rocks and into the water, and Clear's initial instinct was to jump in after him, but then he saw Toue snickering and standing there looking all smug and Clear wanted to kill him. He lunged at Toue with a growl, sending him to the ground. He snatched the knife from his hand and threw it away behind him.

"We're not your property!" He snarled as he bashed him in his stupid fucking face with his fist over and over and over again.

"Clear! No!" One of the Alphas tried to pull him away by the arms. Clear growled and kicked his legs out, thrashing to get out of the whoever's grip it was. Angry tears streamed down his face, and he wanted to rip Toue apart more than anything. Toue had put Aoba's life in danger, and used him for his own selfish plan -- used _all_ of them like they were disposable -- and then hurled Aoba into the water.

Aoba was in the water. Aoba was terrified of the water.

"We'll get him!" One of the Alphas said. "Go!"

Clear regained a fraction of his senses and broke into a sprint, diving into the water until he found Aoba scrambling for purchase a few feet below the surface. Clear felt his tail growing, tearing the fabric of his pants in the process. That didn't matter, though; what mattered was pulling Aoba out of the water and onto the rocks. It was difficult to carry him, which was weird, because Aoba was a small man. Coupled with the buoyancy effect, it should have been easier than ever to lift Aoba in his arms. It was as if Aoba had doubled in weight.

It was only when he had Aoba's limp, unconscious body entirely out of the water that he realized what had happened. Clear was so shocked and confused and overwhelmed with emotions that he fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> S H I T !!!!!!!! i hope that was as suspenseful and shocking as i wanted it to be!!!!!!!! i had this whole thing all planned out since the beginning lmao, i had kind of hinted at it a little bit but i wanted it to be a surprise
> 
> is Aoba dead? is he alive? what the fuck even is he at this point?
> 
> H E L L Y E A H


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath! Clear tries his best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor aoba. poor clear. poor you, for reading this, and poor me for writing it
> 
> literally nothing happens in this chapter, like they barely even move at all

Aoba woke up in pain, with a strange numbness in his legs. He blinked his eyes open and stared at an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Seragaki-san! Are you awake?"

Aoba shut his eyes again and tried to stay very still. That voice must have been Clear's grandfather, the Merperson Specialist, and Aoba had no desire to talk to him right now. He didn't want to talk to anyone; he was exhausted.

"I know you're awake, Seragaki-san. I have you hooked up to quite a few machines."

Aoba huffed and opened his eyes. "What do you want?"

"I want to know how you're feeling. Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

 _I need you to go away._ "I'm tired and my side hurts and my legs feel weird. Why am I here?"

The old man was silent for a moment. "I'll explain that later. Do you want me to go get Clear? He's upstairs right now."

At the mention of his name, Aoba realized that Clear was the only thing that could make him feel better. He wanted to look into his eyes and hear him say how much he loved him. No matter what happened, everything would be alright as long as Aoba had Clear to lean on.

That was way too embarrassing to say out loud, though, so he just said, "Sure."

Aoba closed his eyes and enjoyed the brief moment of peaceful solitude while the old man went upstairs. A few seconds later, four feet came stepping back down the stairs.

"Aoba?" Clear called softly, approaching the bed.

Aoba laughed once, but he had to stop because it hurt. "This seems kinda backwards, doesn't it?"

Clear's lower lip wobbled and he sank to his knees beside the bed so he was face-level with Aoba. "I thought I was going to lose you," he whispered. "I'm so sorry I led you into that situation. I should have fought more to protect you."

"Clear, don't cry! I'm fine!" He looked up to the old man. "I'm fine, right?"

"Um. Technically, Seragaki-san, you _are_ fine. At some point, you encountered some physical trauma and fractured a few ribs, but you should heal fairly quickly."

 _That explains the pain in my side. But what about my legs?_ He decided to ask. "Why do my legs feel numb? Did something happen to them?"

"Uh, about that...there's something important you need to know." The old man swallowed. "I've actually known this about you for a while, because I used to work for Toue --"

"Please don't say his name," Clear interjected. Aoba remembered how feral Clear had looked while they were confronting Toue, and he wondered what had happened to him in the aftermath.

"Right. Sorry." He cleared his throat. "I used to work for him, so I knew about his plans, which was why I quit. I didn't want to be involved in it, and when I heard he had decided to release you, I was overjoyed. I had no idea he was still continuing his 'research' in secret." He paused. "Clear was present when the event occurred, so I think he should be the one to explain to you what happened."

Clear nodded. "Um, well, Aoba, you remember how -- when you went in the water? Do you remember that happening?"

Aoba froze at the memory and the residual fear he still had after the event. It had been absolutely terrifying and he almost started to shake just _thinking_ about it.

"I remember trying to swim, but I must have passed out or something after a few seconds, 'cause I don't remember anything after that."

"Yes. So when I pulled you out of the water, I noticed...um, well, the first thing I noticed were that you had scales on your shoulders. And then I noticed your ears, which were like how mine used to be, and then I saw your...tail..."

Aoba blinked. "What?"

"You had never gone in the ocean before, Aoba, so I suppose that's why you never knew this, but...you're the same as me. I hatched from an egg in the ocean, and you were created in a lab, but we're the same."

Aoba laughed a little bit. "That's not...no, that doesn't..."

Clear looked at him with what came across as pity. "I'm sorry, Aoba."

"B-But..." Aoba trailed off. He didn't understand what Clear was saying.

"So that must be why your legs feel numb. Mine felt like that for a while, too," Clear explained. "I think it's because your body isn't used to the change, since you had never done it before."

"What?"

Clear paused. "Is there something you don't understand?"

"What the...oh my God, what the fuck?" Aoba whispered in disbelief. "What the fuck?!"

"Aoba, it's okay --"

"It is _not_ okay! I'm...oh my God, I'm not _human!_ I'm a _freak!"_ Aoba started to panic.

Clear's eyes narrowed and he pressed his mouth into a thin line. "We're not _freaks,_ Aoba --" He cut himself off, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I know you're upset. I understand how it feels to learn something about yourself that you had gone your whole life not knowing."

"B-B-But I'm a totally different fucking _species_ than I thought I was!" His breaths came quicker and quicker, and he felt lightheaded. Clear squeezed his hand.

"I'm sorry, Aoba," Clear whispered. "I don't know what to tell you."

Aoba glared at his hands. How had he not known that about himself? How had nobody told him? His granny had worked for Toue, so she had probably known and had just decided not to tell him about it. Who else had kept it a secret?

"You said you knew, right?" He asked Clear's grandfather. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't think it was my place to tell you."

"You didn't think it was your _place_ to give me that kind of information?! How else do you think I would've found out?!"

The old man held his palms up in surrender. "I don't know! I didn't want to meddle."

Aoba frowned. "Whatever. It's not like I'm ever gonna go in the ocean again, right? So it doesn't matter."

Clear's brow furrowed and he looked like he wanted to say something to that, but he stayed quiet.

Aoba wanted to change the subject. "So what happened to...um..."

"He's dead," Clear said with a grim expression.

"He --" Aoba stuttered for a second. "He's dead?!"

"Yes."

"Who -- what?! Did someone kill him?!"

"Yes."

Aoba stared at Clear with eyes the size of dinner plates. _"What?!"_

Clear looked at the floor. "It wasn't me who did it, but I didn't try to stop them."

"Was it your brothers? Did you help them?"

"I -- I didn't help them. I beat him up a little bit before they got to him, but I wasn't involved in the bloody part."

Aoba imagined the Alphas slicing Toue up until he died. It was an oddly satisfying image.

"But he had a lot of useful research and stuff, right? Wouldn't it have been good to keep him around?"

"He may be dead," the old man said, "But his research still exists. The Alphas went today in search of his laboratory to collect the information." He stood up from his chair. "I'm going to meet up with them and see what they've found. Clear, you'll need to start Aoba's morphine drip again in twenty minutes. Do you remember how to do that?"

"Yes, I remember. See you later," Clear said as the old man headed out the door.

Aoba lay there in silence, staring at the ceiling as Clear gently stroked his arm over the blanket.

"How does your neck feel? Does it hurt?"

"Oh. I hadn't even..." Aoba touched the front of his neck, feeling a bandage there. "It doesn't feel like anything."

"You needed stitches," Clear said quietly. "Grandfather took care of it. He said --"

"Are you sure I had a tail? Like, are you completely sure you didn't just _think_ you saw it?"

Clear blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, Aoba, but I know I saw it."

"What did I look like?"

Clear hummed. "You looked like a merperson, Aoba. Your ears and scales and everything were gold coloured, like your eyes."

"So the experiment didn't work, then? I wasn't supposed to be able to turn back into a human."

"That's...mostly true, Aoba."

"Mostly true? What does that mean?"

"I don't know if this is permanent or not, but you still have some scales on your legs."

"What?! Where?!" Aoba sat up and some of the wires came unattached from his skin. He hadn't thought of how much it would hurt and he cried out at the sharp pain in his ribs.

"Aoba! Lie down! You'll hurt yourself."

Aoba scowled at Clear but did as he suggested. "Where are the scales?"

Clear carefully drew the blanket aside. "On your ankles, mostly, but you also have a few on your knees."

Aoba looked down at his own legs, sticking one of them up in the air so he could see better. There were golden yellow scales of slightly varying tones on his joints. He hated them, and he wanted more than anything to get rid of them. He started to cry.

"Oh, Aoba, don't cry!" Clear cradled his face in his hands. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm so ugly!" He sobbed.

"You're not --"

"Yes, I _am!_ All these scales do is remind me of how unnatural and expendable and _useless_ I am! I couldn't even do what I was intended to do in the first place!" He wailed. "And now I'm ugly, too!"

"You're not ugly, Aoba," he repeated with emphasis. "You're none of those things. You look a little bit different, but you're still just as beautiful to me as you were before."

Aoba sniffed. "Really?"

Clear pulled the quilt back up. "Yes. And you're so much more than what you were 'intended' to be. I was intended to be used as a tool for mind control, and I couldn't do that, but you still loved me, right? As long as you love me, I know I have a purpose."

Aoba gazed into Clear's earnest eyes and believed every word he said. He could feel his eyes glistening with tears and he knew he was staring at Clear with a gross, lovestruck expression, but he couldn't control it. He threw his arms around Clear's neck and squeezed him with all of his might, despite the stabbing ache the movement caused.

"You're right," he whispered. "And if loving you is my only purpose, it's more than enough."

They looked into each other's eyes and held each other's hands and Aoba was pretty sure they were going to kiss, but he had just woken up and he hadn't brushed his teeth yet, so he considered backing away. He hadn't thought about it yet, but he wondered what he must have looked like -- he was all sweaty and he hadn't showered in two days, so he knew he must have been greasy. Regardless, Clear was looking at him like he was the most beautiful thing in the whole world.

Clear moved his hands up to Aoba's neck, playing with his hair idly. He bumped his forehead against Aoba's and leaned in close enough for them to kiss.

"Is it alright if I...?" Clear trailed off, breath puffing out against Aoba's lips as he spoke.

Aoba nodded. Clear closed the short distance between them and sealed their lips together. Aoba's breath hitched when Clear slowly worked his lips open and slid their tongues together. It was comforting to be kissing Clear after everything that had happened; it felt familiar and right. He looped his arms around Clear's neck and tugged him in closer. That hurt, though, so he jerked away, exhaling sharply in pain.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just -- it just knocked the wind out of me."

Clear pulled away and gently pushed Aoba flat against the bed so he didn't hurt himself again. He frowned at him with concern. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Aoba stared at the ceiling. "No, you've already helped me a lot, but...I dunno, I'm just still pretty upset about everything, you know?"

"I understand. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't really know how to put it into words. It's just that..." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Like, what else is there that we don't know yet about me? It could be anything!"

"I doubt there's anything left for us to find out about you, Aoba."

Aoba spoke with a small voice. "What if you find something about me that you don't like?"

"My love for you is unconditional, Aoba. You could grow a pair of wings during the night and I'd still love you tomorrow."

"Would you really?"

"Yes!" He grinned. "I'd groom your feathers."

Aoba chuckled. "I bet you'd actually do that."

"I would! And I would love you no matter what."

"But..." Aoba continued to argue. "You can't say you'd love me no matter what if there's still so much you don't know about me!"

Clear paused. "I don't know anything about your family."

"What?"

"Your family, Aoba. I know nothing about them. Could you tell me?"

"Oh. Well, I guess when I was released out into the wild or whatever, my parents found me and took me in. My granny ended up being the one to raise me, though, because my parents worked a lot and eventually just left. I guess my granny used to work for -- uh, you-know-who, which is pretty coincidental. I'm beginning to question if anything in my life is real or if it was all part of his elaborate plan."

"Don't worry about that, Aoba. He said he wanted to monitor you without interfering, right? His interference could have been the reason your brothers died, so he probably thought that if he removed that variable, you would turn out better. I doubt he did too much to change the course of your life."

"I remember Sei," Aoba whispered.

"You do?"

"Yeah. He and I were close. I don't remember the others, but I remember watching him die."

"Oh, Aoba, that's awful. I'm sorry."

"I always thought it had just been a dream, but now I know it was real. It really happened. I couldn't save my brother because I was too scared to go in the water."

"You were a child, Aoba. You're not responsible. Had you gone in the water, you probably would have drowned, too."

Aoba sighed. "I know you're right, but it doesn't make me feel any better."

"I know."

"It's gonna take a lot of work for me to stop feeling bad about everything," Aoba said. "I'm gonna cry a lot and get really clingy, but that's what it's gonna take for me to feel better. I don't wanna drive you away when you find out how annoying I can be."

"You could never annoy me, Aoba. Not with something like like this, anyway. Of course I'm going to be here to help you work through your feelings; that's what I signed up for." He paused. "People change all the time, and they're always doing things that are new and sometimes surprising, but I'm prepared for that. I'm not going to leave you just because I find out something new about you."

"What if I'm not the person you thought I was?" Aoba whispered. It was horrifying to think that Clear might fall out of love with him.

Clear smiled. "I've never thought you were anyone but yourself, Aoba."

Aoba smiled, too.

The timer on Clear's watch beeped and he looked at it. "Oh! It's time to start your morphine drip. I'm only supposed to give it to you if you really need it. Are you in a lot of pain?"

Aoba's side had started hurting tremendously over the last few minutes. "Fuck, yes. Hook me up."

Clear reattached some of the cords that had come loose, then fiddled around with the bag hooked up to his IV. Aoba looked away because he didn't want to think about it. After a minute of two, the machine beeped, and Clear sat down again.

"You will probably go to sleep in a few minutes, Aoba."

Aoba felt a lot better about everything all of a sudden. He reached up and grabbed Clear's face with one hand, squishing his cheeks together. "You're the best."

Clear chuckled. He grabbed Aoba's wrist, then kissed the back of his hand. "Thank you."

"No, I mean it, you're...fuck, you're great. I love you."

"I love you too, Aoba," Clear said with a grin.

It was getting more and more difficult to speak. "You know whuh? I think...think I should try...goin' in the water...like, the ocean, you know? Think tha's a good idea?"

"We can talk about that later." He leaned down and kissed Aoba on the forehead. "Have a good sleep, Aoba."

"Dun...wanna...sleep..." Aoba mumbled as he slowly faded out.

* * *

Clear sat on the floor beside the now-drugged-out Aoba, thinking about everything. Poor Aoba was shifting anxiously and making little sounds in his sleep, reminding Clear of how shaken-up he was after the previous day's events. He wanted to do whatever he could to help, but he knew the only thing he could really do was to just be there for him when he needed someone. It was hard to not suffocate Aoba with affection, but it wouldn't do Aoba any good to constantly smother him.

"We're back!" Alpha Two called, swinging the door open with a bang.

"And we've got Toue's secret plans!" Alpha One said. "Not so secret anymore! Ha!"

Clear's back stiffened at the mention of Toue's name, but he didn't snap at them for it.

"Aoba is sleeping," he cautioned. "Though I don't think any amount of noise will wake him."

"Do you wanna know what we found out?"

Clear hummed. "Maybe we should wait to discuss it with Aoba. After all, this concerns him now, too."

"How is Aoba doing?" His grandfather said as he locked the front door.

"He said he was in pain," Clear said with a wistful glance at his beloved.

"Is he still upset?"

"Yes. I think he'll be upset for a while, but I'm prepared to help him in any way that I can."

"He's very lucky to have you," his grandfather said.

"We're lucky to have each other," Clear corrected. "We can get through anything as long as we have each other."

"I wish I had that!" Alpha Two whined.

"I don't," Alpha One said. "I'm a lone wolf."

"You are not! You made me sleep in the same bed as you until we were ten."

"That's different! I mean I never want a girlfriend or anything like that. We're brothers!"

Clear chuckled as he listened to his brothers' bickering. It was nice to have them around. Now that Toue was quite literally out of the way, he hoped they would be able to continue living peacefully from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's....almost....OVER


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba accepts his fate. Clear continues to try his very best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha jk there are 18 chapters now!! not 17. there was an unplanned twist in the story

"I don't care."

Aoba had woken up from his drug-induced sleep to find the Alphas chattering excitedly about all the information they had found in Toue's lab. Once they noticed Aoba was awake, they asked him if he was ready to hear all of the secrets Toue had kept from them about their species. That's when Aoba told them he didn't care.

Clear looked at him worriedly. "You don't care, Aoba? I thought you were concerned with everything you might not know about yourself."

"It's true whether I know about it or not, right? I don't wanna know. If I don't know about it, I can forget that I ever found out I'm a merperson."

"Y-You want to pretend that you aren't really a merperson?"

"Yeah."

"But, Aoba --"

"It's my decision, isn't it?"

"How can you so easily dismiss half of your identity?"

Aoba grit his teeth. "It's not half of my identity. I just found out about it yesterday! As far as everyone but you is concerned, I'm still a human!"

In all honesty, Aoba didn't want to ignore the truth about his species, but he was scared to explore it, so he figured it was best to distance himself from it. Every time he thought about going back in the ocean, he remembered Sei and how he had drowned, and it terrified him.

The Alphas and their grandfather said they were going outside for a bit (most likely to give Clear and Aoba some privacy). Once they were gone, Clear knelt beside the bed and took Aoba's hand into his own.

"I understand that it's your decision, and that you can choose to live however you want, but..." He sighed. "When I found out you were a merperson, I was -- and I know this is very selfish, but it's true -- I was kind of...happy. I was happy that we were the same. For a long time, I wished I could be human so there wouldn't be a barrier between us. I hadn't thought about it going the other way around, and when it did, I was happy we would be able to have a deeper understanding of each other."

"Clear..." Aoba didn't know what to say.

"I'm not trying to change your mind about it, Aoba, but I'm hurt at the thought of you disregarding that fact." He looked like he was going to cry. "We're the same, Aoba. Don't you want to be the same?"

Aoba was taken aback. He hadn't thought about that part of it. Of course he wanted to be the same as Clear; now that they knew they were the same species, they could fully integrate into every aspect of each other's lives. He felt very selfish for even _thinking_ about pretending they weren't.

"I'm sorry, Clear," he whispered, wiping Clear's tears from his eyes. "You're right. Why would I want to pretend we were still different? That's not fair to you."

"It's not about me. I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do, Aoba."

"I want to do this. I want you to teach me about being a merperson."

Clear's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah. And I wanna hear what your brothers found out."

Clear's whole face lit up. "Oh, Aoba! That's wonderful! I'll go get them!"

*     *     *

After Clear had fetched his family (who had been standing right outside the front door the whole time), Aoba had invited him to sit in the bed with him. Clear was shocked that Aoba had suggested something so openly affectionate, but he crawled under the blanket with him anyway (trying not to think too hard about all of Aoba's bare skin pressing against the fabric of his clothes).

"So we found out some pretty interesting stuff," Alpha One started off with. "Our singing has the ability to dye humans' brains, but Toue was immune to it because he did something to his head. We don't really know what he did, exactly, but I guess it worked because we didn't affect him."

 _"Most_ of our singing has the brain dye effect," Alpha Two corrected. "We can sing normally if we want to. Also, Clear's singing has the ability to reverse the effects of the brain dye."

"Just my singing?"

"Yeah! That must have been why Toue didn't like the way you sounded."

Clear hummed. "Does it say anything about Aoba?"

"It says that Aoba and his brothers were supposed to have a much more powerful effect. They should have been able to enter people's minds and destroy them, but only Sly really got that ability. Aoba has it a little bit, too, though."

"I thought he never tested me for anything?"

"He never experimented on you, but he tested you for things like that."

"Oh. I wouldn't even know how to use that kind of power."

"There are notes that you may want to check out," Alpha Two said. He handed over a few sheets of paper, but their grandfather stepped in and took them before Aoba could reach.

"This kind of power is a serious thing," he said. "Once you know how to control it, you may be tempted to use it. Are you sure you want to know?"

Aoba was quiet for a moment. "Not right now. Don't do anything to those, though. I might want them someday."

"Don't worry. Only a fool would destroy such valuable research."

Clear felt slightly relieved that Aoba hadn't decided to learn how to control his power. He trusted Aoba, probably more than he trusted anyone in the whole world, but it made him nervous to think that Aoba could destroy him with only a few words. (Clear had already read all of the documents while Aoba had been sleeping, and he hadn't meant to read the ones about Aoba, but...well, once he had started, it had been hard to stop).

The Alphas then went through all the rest of the research, and since Clear had already read it, he tuned it out. It was mostly stuff had already known, anyway -- how their internal organs worked, how much of them was fish and how much was human. The only new information was about how their transformation happened, which Clear still didn't entirely understand. He had been right, though; it was partially due to magic. Not even Toue had been able to explain it all using science.

Once it was over, Aoba started to sit up. "Can I go home now? My friends are probably wondering where I am, and I haven't showered in a while."

Clear's grandfather sighed and got up to unhook Aoba from all of the machines. "You need to be careful not to aggravate your injury. No strenuous physical activity. I don't even want you showering on your own; you could seriously hurt yourself if you try to bend over to reach things."

"Are you a doctor?" Aoba asked. Clear thought he sounded a little bit sassy.

"As a matter of fact, I am." He then handed Clear some gauze and antibacterial spray and instructed him to change the dressing on Aoba's neck once a day.

"Do you still have my clothes?"

"Your pants were destroyed when you transformed, but you can borrow a pair." He went upstairs to get it, and the Alphas went outside again, leaving the couple alone for the second time.

Aoba frowned. "You went in the water after me when I was pushed in, right? Didn't you transform?"

Clear felt his cheeks burning. "Yes. I had to come here without any pants."

"Were you the one who brought me here?"

"Yes. I carried you here from the shore. I was too panicked to feel embarrassed at the time, but I am very embarrassed in retrospect."

Aoba stared at him with wide eyes. "You really did that? I mean...you were upset, too, right? And you didn't have any pants!"

Clear looked at the floor out of embarrassment. _Why is Aoba making such a big deal out of this?_ "I went through the bushes so nobody would see us."

"That's so sweet! I had no idea you'd done all that for me!"

"Of course I did, Aoba! Your neck was bleeding! If you were strong enough, I'm sure you would have done the same for me in that situation."

"If I were --" Aoba cut himself off, looking very offended. "I'm plenty strong enough!"

"I didn't mean to say you aren't strong, Aoba. You are very strong and masculine and I am very attracted to your manly charm--mmfff..." Clear's words were muffled by Aoba's palm against his mouth.

"Shut up," Aoba said with a laugh. "You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

"You may be small and not as strong as I am, but you're still a man and that's why I was attracted to you in the first place."

"Not because I look like a girl?"

"You don't look like a girl. You look like Aoba."

Aoba rolled his eyes and smiled. "Whatever. I'm just grateful I have such a big, strong boyfriend who can carry me around."

Clear giggled. "I'll carry you wherever you want, baby."

*     *     *

Once Aoba was dressed and Clear's grandfather was sure he was okay, they left to go to Aoba's house. Clear offered to carry him, and Aoba initially said no, but he found himself getting very winded after a few minutes and he reluctantly asked Clear to give him a piggyback ride. Clear (very gently) picked Aoba up on his back and carried him the rest of the way. It was kind of embarrassing, but Aoba didn't mind as much as he thought he would. He buried his face in Clear's fluffy hair and ignored everyone else on the sidewalk who was staring at them.

Once they were at Aoba's house, Aoba climbed off his back and immediately started leading them to the bathroom.

"Will you help me shower?" He asked Clear. "Your grandfather said I shouldn't do it by myself."

"Yes, of course! I'll do anything to help you."

"Hey! Aoba! Is that you?" Koujaku and Mizuki appeared at the top of the staircase. "Where have you been?"

"I was...um...something happened. I'm okay, though. Can I explain it later?"

Koujaku looked at him inquisitively. "Sure."

"What happened to your neck?" Mizuki asked.

"Um. I'll tell you the whole story later." He shifted awkwardly. "I met Toue for the first time. That's what happened. Everything's fine, though!"

"Okay. Talk to you later, I guess."

Aoba nodded and pulled Clear into the bathroom with him. He didn't have any bandages on his chest (the old man had said his ribs would heal on their own) so when Clear helped him take his shirt off and he caught a glimpse of his injured side in the bathroom mirror, he gasped in horror.

"Look at how bruised I am! Oh my God, I look disgusting!"

"You don't look disgusting, Aoba. It does look painful, though." Clear gently poked the corner of the dressing on his neck. "If you're going to shower, you should take this bandage off so we can clean your wound and put a new one on after."

Aoba grimaced. "It's gonna hurt!"

"No, it won't." Clear got a washcloth and soaked it with warm water in the sink. He carefully held it against Aoba's neck until the bandage was softened. It peeled off of his skin painlessly.

Aoba nearly gagged when he saw his throat. "I didn't know he cut it that badly..."

Clear's jaw visibly tensed. "He did. He could have killed you."

"Your brothers said merpeople heal a lot faster than humans, right? It won't be long until I'm fine again."

"It doesn't matter. He still hurt you." Clear wrapped his arms around Aoba, though he didn't squeeze him. "I'm sorry I got you into this. If you weren't involved with me, then --"

"If I weren't involved with you, I'd still be a merperson! _And_ I'd be sad! None of this is your fault."

Clear was quiet for a second, but then he nodded. "Okay. I believe you, Aoba. I know you're right."

"Great! Help me take my pants off."

Clear got down on his knees and unbuttoned Aoba's pants (which were way too big for him -- Clear's grandfather had a weird concept of clothing sizes). He slid them down Aoba's legs and stood up again. Aoba noticed he was blushing.

"Alright! I'll turn the water on."

"Hey!" Aoba said, tugging on Clear's shirt sleeve. "You can't go in the shower with your clothes on!"

Clear blushed more deeply, but started to undress. Aoba watched him, noticing once he took his pants off that the bandage on his leg was gone. Clear's calf was mangled and the otherwise-flawless skin was marbled with lumpy, shiny pink scar tissue. Though it was technically an imperfection, Aoba didn't think it made his legs any less perfect.

"I know it's bad, Aoba. I'm sorry you have to look at it."

Aoba's eyes flitted back up to Clear's melancholic face. "I -- I didn't mean to stare! I just hadn't seen it before. It's not bad, Clear!" He laughed nervously. "It's better than my legs, anyway."

Clear glanced down at Aoba's scaly legs. "Your legs are beautiful, Aoba."

Aoba rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can you turn the water on?"

Clear did as he was asked, and soon Aoba was standing under the relaxing, warm spray.

"Do you want to try to wash yourself, or do you want me to do it?" Clear asked.

"You can do it."

Clear got the soap and a washcloth and built up a lather. He started to wash Aoba's body, and he probably hadn't meant for it to be anything but what it was, but Aoba couldn't help but find it sensual. Clear was being very gentle and sweet, and he kept pressing little kisses to Aoba's shoulders and the side of his neck. When it came time to wash Aoba's hair, Clear stood facing him as he scrubbed the shampoo into his hair.

"Thank you for doing all this," Aoba said quietly.

"You don't need to thank me, Aoba. I am always going to help you when you need it." He leaned down and kissed Aoba's neck with more enthusiasm. "I love you so much."

Aoba panted. Clear was too much! "Clear, you're turning me on," he mumbled, embarrassed.

Clear stopped kissing him and backed away. "I-I didn't mean to do that. We shouldn't -- we can't do that."

"I know." Aoba tilted his head back to rinse his hair. Once it was clean, Clear shut the water off and got a towel to dry Aoba's hair with.

"I'd like to do it, too, you know."

Aoba chuckled. "I believe you." He cleared his throat. "Uh, now that we kinda brought it up, I meant to ask about this earlier -- how do merpeople, uh...how do we have sex? Is that a thing we can do?"

Clear nodded. "We didn't discuss this earlier because the Alphas were too embarrassed, but I will tell you about it now! Merfolk like you and I have a thing called a gonopodium, which is kind of like a human penis crossed with a tentacle. It's hidden under a slit in the front of our tail, and it only comes out when we're sexually aroused."

"Is that why I never saw yours?"

"Yes, Aoba. I made a conscious effort not to get aroused around you because I didn't want to scare you away." He finished drying Aoba's hair and picked up a second towel. "Can you please hold your arms out to the sides for me?"

Aoba did as Clear asked so he could pat his torso dry with the towel. "It wouldn't have scared me away. How do merpeople reproduce? Do they lay eggs and then fertilize them like fish, or do they do it like humans?"

"An interesting fact that we just found out about our species is that each of us can produce both eggs and sperm, regardless of our sex organs. That's probably why there are groups of us that look the same -- a single merperson could produce several children that looked like themselves."

Aoba stood patiently as Clear dressed him, then himself. "Is that what happened with you and your brothers? Did you all come from one merperson?"

"That's what we think, yes."

"Oh. So how does that work? How do you control that?"

"You don't," Clear said, shrugging. "It just sort of happens when it happens. Merfolk couples usually end up doing it within the first few years of their relationship, but single merpeople tend to reproduce near the end of their lives. We don't quite understand why, but we think it's just something their body decides to do when it knows it's going to die soon, probably out of some kind of biological responsibility."

"A-Are we going to do that?" Aoba swallowed. "Together, I mean?"

"I don't know, Aoba. Hypothetically, we should be able to, but I can't say if we actually will or not." He opened the door and they headed to Aoba's bedroom, for lack of a better place to go.

Aoba settled in beside Clear on his bed. Clear was doing a good job of explaining, but Aoba still had one question left. "So how would we have sex? Is there somewhere to, like...put it in?"

"Um." Clear blushed. "Not really. If our reproductive systems were different, like they are with some merfolk couples, we would be able to have intercourse, but since we have the same things...gonopodia are very big, much bigger than what humans have, so it would be very painful to put it where we...usually...put it."

"Oh."

"But we could still pleasure each other in other ways!" Clear chirped, trying to stay on the bright side. "If we ever decide to be intimate when we're in the ocean, that is. We may never get to that."

Aoba chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if we did."

Clear laughed, too. "What if a school of fish happens to swim by when we're doing it? I wasn't kidding when I said gonopodia were really big. They would definitely notice."

"Maybe we should just stick to having sex on land."

They both giggled at that. Aoba didn't really mind not being able to have sex as merpeople; they were going to be human most of the time, and if they ever got in the mood when they weren't, they could just leave the water.

Clear pressed a kiss to his forehead, drawing him out of his reverie. "You should try to get some sleep, sunshine. Your body still needs to recover."

"Sunshine?" Aoba repeated, ignoring the rest of Clear's words. "Is that your pet name for me?"

Clear blushed and his eyes widened a little bit. "D-Do you not like it?"

"I didn't say that. I just wanna know why you picked it."

"I hope I don't upset you by bringing this up, but when I saw your tail for the first time..." He paused, most likely to gauge Aoba's reaction. "The colour of it was so beautiful and golden, like the sun, and I was mesmerized."

Aoba smiled. "So I remind you of sunshine?"

"Yes! You're very warm and you brighten up my life."

Aoba rested his forehead against Clear's shoulder. "I feel that way about you, too, cupcake."

Clear giggled and squeezed Aoba's hand. Aoba was totally content to be simply laying beside Clear, enjoying each other's company. He didn't feel like there was anything else he should be doing; he felt like he could spend the rest of his life in moments like this and feel completely fulfilled. That made him realize something, and when he did, it made a comfortable warmth bloom in his chest.

"Clear?"

"Yes, Aoba?"

"We're soulmates. Like, we're merpeople soulmates."

Clear gasped. "Oh my gosh, Aoba, you're right! We are! I can't believe I hadn't realized that yet!"

"That must have been why we were so, like...drawn to each other at the start, you know? We didn't know I was a merperson, too, but that didn't change the fact that I was."

"There are old merfolk couples who have been together for hundreds of years," Clear said. He sounded astonished. "Do you think we'll be like that?"

"Oh, shit, yeah! I'm gonna live as long as you! I completely forgot about that!" Aoba felt himself beaming and he covered his mouth with his hands. "We get to be together for a really long time!"

Clear smiled so hard his eyes crinkled at the corners and his nose scrunched up. "Oh, Aoba, this is so wonderful! This is the best thing that has ever happened to me!"

"Me, too." Aoba scooted up so he could chastely kiss Clear on the lips. "I love you."

Clear kissed Aoba in return. "I love you, too, Aoba! I love you more than anything else in the whole world!"

Aoba smiled contentedly and rested his head on Clear's chest, closing his eyes. He felt like the love between them was tangible, as if they were in an impenetrable bubble that sealed them in, protecting them from everything else. It was peaceful, which was a nice change from all the excitement they had been involved in recently. He hoped they could stay like this forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha they won't tho


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba runs into a few complications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took so long and i am so sorry and ashamed of myself ;~;

Aoba's ribs had finally healed, which meant one thing: Clear was going to make him go in the ocean. He had promised he would do it as soon as he had permission from Clear's grandfather, who was apparently a qualified physician. It wasn't that he was afraid to swim, it was just...no, actually, it _was_ that he was afraid. Very afraid. He wasn't a merman the same way Clear was; he had been artificially created, and even Toue admitted that he may had made a few mistakes with his genetic makeup. If he didn't completely transform, he could die, just like his brother had.

He sat on the edge of the shore, watching Clear bob up and down in the water. Their clothes were under a heavy rock so they wouldn't blow away in the wind. Aoba had his arms crossed over himself so Clear couldn't stare at him.

"Come on in, sunshine!" Clear called.

"This is embarrassing! What if someone sees me?"

"Nobody will see you once you're in the water!"

Clear had a point. After looking over his shoulder one last time, Aoba took a deep breath and slid off the rocks, directly into Clear's arms. His whole body tingled and he could feel himself transforming. _What if it fucks me up and I can't breathe? Will Clear know what to do? Am I going to die?!_

Clear grinned and pecked him on the forehead. "There! That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Is it done? Am I...did it all happen?" Aoba whispered. He was petrified with fear.

"Yes, Aoba, you have completely transformed." He squeezed Aoba tighter and nuzzled their cheeks together. "Please don't worry about that anymore."

Aoba nodded slowly, psyching himself up. "Okay. Do you wanna start now?"

"Yes, of course! This is like when I learned to walk, Aoba. It was very difficult at first. I had never walked before, and you have never swam before, so it will likely be just as hard for you to learn."

"Shouldn't you let go of me? I can't learn to swim by myself if you keep holding me like this."

"You need to learn the basic motions before you can swim on your own." Clear smiled and tucked his hair behind his ear for him. "Maybe you should tie your hair back. It's very long and it doesn't seem to want to cooperate with your big ears."

"Don't call them big! Yours are the same size!"

"Just because they're big doesn't mean they aren't beautiful. You're very beautiful as a human, Aoba, and you are also very beautiful as a merperson." He took Aoba's hand into his own and clasped their webbed fingers together. He tilted their joined hands so their scales glittered in the sunlight. "Look at your scales! They're absolutely stunning."

Aoba smiled bashfully and ducked his head. "Thank you."

Clear curled the bottom of his tail around Aoba's, and it felt protective. "Are you ready to start learning?"

Aoba's anxiety surged. He was already in the water, but it made him nervous to think that he would be eventually swimming by himself, without Clear holding him above the surface.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, Aoba," Clear quietly assured him. "We can get out of the water and we don't have to go back in until you're ready. It's completely up to you."

Aoba shook his head. "I want to. It's important that I Iearn to be a merperson, just like how you're learning to be a human. We can understand each other better this way."

Clear kissed him softly on the cheek before carefully loosening his grip on him. "First, you need to learn how to keep yourself upright. It's all about how you position your tail. It needs to be slightly curved, and you need to kind of wiggle it every so often. To me, it comes naturally, having spent so long in the water, so I'm bad at explaining it. It's best for you to try staying afloat on your own to see how it feels, then build from there."

Clear released Aoba so only their hands were together. Aoba tried to keep himself up with only his tail, but it was hard, and he ended up flailing his arms to keep floating.

"Clear, I can't do this!" He cried, panicking as he felt himself sink.

Clear took him into his arms again. "It's alright, Aoba. It was your first try." He kissed him on the cheek again. "What did it feel like?"

"Like I was going to drown."

"You won't drown, Aoba. You have gills so you can breathe without having your head above the surface. Did something feel wrong?"

Aoba thought about it. "I guess my tail felt tense, and I felt like I couldn't really control it."

Clear hummed. "Okay. Now, I want you to hold onto my shoulders and practice waving your tail. Start from the base, and wiggle it all the way to the end, like a worm. And keep doing it continuously until it feels natural."

Aoba nodded and did as Clear instructed. It was kind of awkward, but he relaxed after a few minutes and it got easier and easier to move his tail.

"I think I'm doing it!"

"That's great!" Clear cheered, beaming. "Do you think you're ready to try to float again?"

"M-Maybe. I guess I'll try."

Now that his tail was loosened up, he was able to hold himself up out of the water. It was tiring, though.

"You're doing it! Aoba, you're doing it!"

Aoba grinned. "I'm doing it!"

Clear laughed and tackled Aoba under the water, sending them into a barrel-rolling-hug. Aoba wasn't used to being under the water, and he instinctively tried to gasp for air, but it felt like his trachea was closing. After a few seconds, he didn't feel the urge to breathe anymore. Clear was certainly right about the gills.

"I'm so proud of you, Aoba!" Clear praised. Aoba was shocked to realize that he could hear Clear perfectly.

"Uh...how can I hear you?"

Clear poked his own ear. "That's what these are for!"

"Huh. That's interesting."

Clear was smiling at him, and Aoba found himself smiling back. Before he knew it, their lips were nearing closer and closer until they were kissing. Clear's lips weren't as cold as Aoba remembered them being when he had kissed him in merperson form before; in fact, they were very warm. Perhaps it was because Aoba was cold-blooded, now, too, so they had the same body temperature.

Clear's hands had started out in Aoba's hair, but then he slid them down to his neck, then to his waist, and finally to the base of his tail. He felt at the human skin of Aoba's torso, then moved his hand to the scaly, fish-like surface of his tail. He did that back and forth a few times, seemingly comparing the two different textures.

"You're so beautiful, Aoba," Clear mumbled between quick, tiny little kisses. "I love everything about you." He slid their lips completely together and kissed him deeply again.

Aoba was totally comfortable putting his hands all over Clear when they were both human, but doing it as merpeople was new and he wasn't used to it yet. Still, if he was going to fully embrace it as a part of his life, he would have to become more comfortable with it. He tentatively brought his hands up to Clear's shoulders, where his scales were, and stroked them with his thumbs.

Clear pulled him closer until their bodies were touching from chest to tail, groping Aoba where his ass would have been had he been human. Aoba felt a warmth starting to stir in the front of his tail and he got embarrassed, so he pulled back quickly.

"What's wrong?" Clear asked, slightly out of breath.

Aoba knew he was blushing. "I, um...I think I was getting kind of --"

"Clear! Aoba! Are you guys in here?"

Clear visibly jumped at the sound of his brother's voice. "Yes, we are! We'll be right up!"

"What's going on?" Aoba whispered.

"I asked them to give you swimming lessons. They're much better at teaching than I am; they have taught several merfolk children how to swim on their own."

"That's nice of them. They didn't have to do that for me."

"Yes, it is very nice! They're a lot nicer than they seem at first. They want to help you as much as they can! They like you a lot, Aoba."

The Alphas came underwater anyway, despite Clear's earlier assurances that they would meet them on the surface. "I thought you wanted us to help you teach Aoba how to swim?"

"Yes, I do! We just got kind of sidetracked. He still needs a lot of help when it comes to swimming with his head above the water, though."

Aoba was having difficulty staying in an upright position as it was. He had to hold onto Clear so he didn't start rolling away.

Alpha One studied him for a moment. "...Yeah, let's start with that."

*     *     *

Aoba had made a lot of progress! Considering it was his first attempt, he was doing really well; he could now float and keep himself above water with minimal effort, and swim a few feet without assistance! He wasn’t quite able to swim on his own yet, but Clear didn’t think it was a bad thing that he had to hold Aoba’s hand most of the time.

After a few hours, Aoba complained that his fingers were getting pruny, which Clear knew was a lie -- merperson fingers didn’t get pruny. Regardless, Clear took the hint and they ended their swimming practice.

As they sat on the sand to dry off, Clear looked down at his lower body, watching his tail turn into legs. He saw the scales on his skin fade, and he felt his ears shrink and his gills disappear. It was fascinating!

"God damn it!" Aoba cursed, slamming his fist into the ground.

"What's wrong, Aoba?" Clear asked. He then looked over and gasped. Aoba had more scales on his legs than there had been before, and he looked very angry about it.

"What if I don't turn back into a human next time?!" Aoba cried. "Or what if I don't turn into a whole merperson and I drown?!"

Clear had the same fear, but he kept calm so Aoba didn’t get any more upset. He put his hands on either side of Aoba's face, trying to bring him some semblance of comfort. "Do you want to ask Grandfather about it? He may be able to help answer your questions."

Aoba huffed and looked at his scaly feet. "Fine."

They went back to Clear's grandfather's house. Aoba showed him the scales on his legs and asked him what he thought it meant. Clear held his breath in anticipation for his answer.

"It looks, to me, that you're heading down the same path as your brother. Toue made several mistakes when creating you. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you eventually stop transforming fully."

"W-W-What can we do about it?" Clear asked, already crying profusely. He didn't want to lose Aoba!

"He can stop going in the ocean."

"Is that the only solution?" Aoba asked.

The old man sighed. "No, but it's the easiest."

Aoba huffed. "Can you elaborate on that?"

"According to Toue's research, the ability to transform is stronger when the subject spends a greater amount of time in each state. Clear spent approximately twenty-five years in the ocean, then stayed on land for a month and a half before going back into the ocean. I doubt he would have had a problem to begin with, but his transitions will definitely be smooth from now on. You, however, went in the ocean for thirty seconds before Clear pulled you out. That's most likely the cause of your problem."

"So, if I stayed in the ocean for a while, I'll be able to fully transform?"

"I suggest you stay in the ocean for at least a month, just to be safe."

Aoba blinked. "What?"

"It won't be so bad."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am, Seragaki-san. This is a very serious matter."

"I can't just stay in the water for a month! I have a job! And friends! And a _life!"_

"Clear can get a job while you're away from yours."

"You expect me to stay in the ocean by myself?!"

"Or you could stay on land the rest of your life," the old man reminded him. "You visited Clear at the shore every day at the beginning of your relationship, right? It will be like that, but your roles will be switched."

"I can't do that! It's totally unreasonable! Isn't there any other way for you to fix it?"

"If you give me a flesh sample, I can test your transformation abilities more vigorously. I still suggest you stay in the ocean for at least a month, though, just to be on the safe side."

"A _flesh sample?!"_

"It only needs to be very small, Seragaki-san."

Aoba stammered wordlessly, eyes wide. He then turned to Clear. "What do you think about this?"

"Well, um...if it means you won't face any problems in the future, I think it is a good idea."

"But you'll be alone. How do you feel about that?"

To be truthful, Clear didn't want to do anything without Aoba, but he _especially_ didn't want to have to face the general human population without Aoba by his side. He felt his head fog up with panic when he thought about it.

"I-I'll manage," he said weakly. "It's only a month, right? It's not forever."

Aoba sighed. "So, when do you think I should start _living_ in the fucking _ocean?"_ His tone of voice suggested that he found the entire idea ridiculous.

"Seragaki-san, please, watch your language!"

Aoba glared at him. Clear felt bad for his grandfather -- it wasn't his fault Aoba had to go in the ocean for such a long time! He was just the one who had to tell him.

Clear's grandfather waited a few seconds, probably for Aoba to apologize, but he didn't. He sighed and continued. "I suggest you start as soon as possible."

Aoba groaned and pushed his hands up through his hair. "I didn't ask for any of this! Why do I have to..." He finished his sentence with a loud, exasperated growl.

Clear felt pain as he watched Aoba go through so much grief and anger. He wanted to give Aoba a big hug and tell him everything would be okay, but he knew that one: Aoba would just get more angry if he did that, and two: it wouldn't actually fix anything. There was nothing Clear could do other than stay quiet as Aoba probably cursed the day he was born.

"I'm sorry, Seragaki-san. I understand that it isn't easy to deal with such big changes, especially when they seemingly come out of nowhere."

Aoba rested his head in his hands for a few seconds, staring at his lap. Then he composed himself and faced Clear's grandfather again.

"You said you needed a flesh sample?"

*     *     *

Though his pants were off and his shirt was pushed up over his chest, Aoba couldn't think of anything but the fact that he would have to live in the ocean for a month. A whole month! Thirty entire days of water and seaweed and all that fucking bullshit!

"Is something the matter, Aoba? I can tell you're not entirely present."

"I'm sorry, Clear," Aoba sighed.

"Do you want to talk about it? Just because things were heating up between us doesn't mean we can't pause for a moment."

Aoba heaved another sigh. "I don't want to live in the ocean," he mumbled. " I wanna live on land with you."

"I'm afraid to live as a human without having you there to help me, Aoba, but I know this is what's best for us. It's only a month, right? That isn't so bad. A month isn't that long, really."

"The month I spent without you felt like a year. This is probably gonna feel like even longer."

"Not necessarily! We will still see each other every day, just not all the time. But we don't see each other all the time anyway, Aoba! It won't be that different."

"Maybe not for you," Aoba said pointedly. "I'm the one who's gonna be in the water this time. It's like we'll be living each other's lives!"

"Exactly! We'll gain lots of valuable insight!"

"Stop being so positive! It's pissing me off. This is a shitty situation and pretending it's not isn't gonna make it any better!"

Clear's smile slowly faded. "I'm sorry, Aoba. I was only trying to make you feel better about it. When I'm upset, I try my hardest to think of every reason why it's nothing to be upset about. It doesn't work, usually, but sometimes I can convince myself." He paused. "I thought maybe I could convince you."

Clear hadn't spent much time out in public with other humans, but when he had, Aoba knew he got very nervous. It was reasonable to expect Clear to struggle with social anxiety after spending pretty much his entire life isolated from society, but that didn't mean it wasn't still a big problem. Thinking about Clear having to face all that without having Aoba by his side made Aoba feel really bad. Clear would be there under the water with Aoba at least some of the time while he adjusted, but Aoba wouldn't be able to be with Clear on land. It was self-centred of Aoba to think he was the only one who had reason to be upset.

Aoba sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to help, and I should stop being negative when this is the last time we'll be human together for a while."

"You’re allowed to be sad, Aoba! Besides, I really did mean it when I said it wasn’t that big of a deal. You’re not that different when you’re a merperson, but I'm sure I'll miss some things about you that you only have when you’re a human." He gently squeezed Aoba's ass cheek. "Like this. I'm definitely going to miss this."

Aoba giggled. "I'm -- stop it! I'm trying to be serious."

"So am I!"

Aoba rolled his eyes. "If you're gonna miss it so bad, you should make the most of the time you have with it."

Aoba felt Clear shift on the bed and start to kiss at Aoba’s hip, slowly moving inwards (much to Aoba’s embarrassment), though he stopped shortly after he started.

"Oh, you have some scales here, too, Aoba. I hadn't noticed them before."

Aoba gasped and his hand flew to his backside, feeling around the area until he found a patch of scales. "Ew! Don't look at it anymore! It's so embarrassing!"

"There's nothing embarrassing about it, Aoba." He nuzzled his face against Aoba's outer thigh, slowly travelling downwards.

"Yes, there is! I'm hideous."

"I wouldn't mind if your whole body was covered in scales," Clear murmured as he gently pushed Aoba onto his back, then kissed along his scaly shinbone. "I would still find you just as beautiful as I do now."

Aoba swallowed the urge to argue with him.

"Your legs are perfect," Clear mumbled against his skin. "Your whole body is perfect, whether you're a human or a merman or a mix of the two."

Aoba put a gentle hand on Clear's face to get him to look him in the eye. "You're perfect, too."

Clear shrank in on himself a bit. "I -- I know you think I am, Aoba."

Aoba huffed. "That's not --"

"Can we focus on you right now?" Clear asked. He started to kiss up the inside of Aoba's leg.

"T-That depends," Aoba said. "What are you planning on doing?"

Clear smiled but didn't reply. Aoba got his answer, though, when Clear pushed Aoba's thighs up against his chest and leaned in until his face was _very_ close to Aoba's entrance.

"W-W-What are you doing?!" Aoba cried, mortified. "That's gross!"

"It's not gross, Aoba." Clear pressed an open-mouthed kiss to Aoba's perineum. "Do you want me to stop?"

"W-Well...I guess it's fine if you really wanna do it. I'll tell you if I don't like it."

Aoba shut his eyes and waited. He gasped out, shocked, when Clear started to lick at him without an ounce of restraint. Aoba had to press his palm against his open mouth in case Mizuki happened to be home (he didn’t need to be subjected to _that_ again!).

“Aoba,” Clear purred in a thick, incredibly sensual tone, “You taste so --”

“No!” Aoba barked, cutting him off. “Stop! Do _not_ finish that sentence!”

Clear’s shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry.”

Aoba sighed and relaxed against the mattress again. “It’s alright. You can keep going.”

Clear ducked down and went in with more enthusiasm than before (as if that were possible), reducing Aoba to a stuttering, babbling pile of jelly. Clear put two fingers in, too, and Aoba was pretty sure he could see the face of God.

“C-Clear,” he mumbled weakly, “You g-gotta...s-stop…”

Clear pulled back and looked up. Aoba noticed he had saliva all over his mouth and chin, and he was so mortified that he covered his eyes with his hands.

“Aoba,” Clear cooed, “Are you alright?”

Aoba felt Clear tug his wrists away from his face, and he was forced to look at him again.

“Did you not like it?”

“N-No, I liked it…” Aoba swallowed to loosen the tightness in his throat. “You’ve just got spit all over your face.”

Clear wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Is that better?”

“Yeah.” Aoba took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He remembered how Clear had reacted when he had told him he was perfect, and he wanted to revisit that. He cleared his throat and said, “You know I meant it what I said, right?”

"What do you mean?" Clear asked, feigning cluelessness. Aoba knew he knew what he meant.

"When I said you were perfect. I meant it, you know."

“Um.” Clear stiffened and his eyes darted around for a second. “I said I know you think I am.”

"Do you think you are?"

Clear's eyes narrowed. "Do _you_ think you are?"

Aoba huffed. "No, I don't think I'm _perfect,_ but I don't hate the way I look as much as I used to. I can tell you still don't like yourself, though."

"Aoba --"

"I know I'm not the only one with an insecurity, Clear." He pushed Clear down, flat against the bed, and started to undress him.

Clear grabbed his wrists to stop him. "Please, Aoba, stop! I don't want you to do this!"

"Y-You don't? Really?"

Clear looked upset. "I'm sorry. I appreciate that you want to help me feel better, but I'm ashamed of my injury. It was different when it was covered with a bandage, but now you can see it." A few tears fell, falling down his temples and into his hair. "I don't want to draw attention to it. It makes me feel like a monster again."

"Clear," Aoba cooed in as soft a voice he could manage, but he didn't know how to continue, so he let the word hang in the air.

Clear took a few shuddering breaths, squeezing his eyelids shut. He opened them again and looked at Aoba with so much pain in his eyes that it made Aoba's chest hurt. "My whole life, I was made to believe I was a monster, that I was horrifying to look at and that nobody should ever have the burden of seeing my face. That's not an easy thing to forget."

Aoba wanted to reach out and comfort him but his wrists were still in Clear's iron grip. "I started to like you before I saw your face, but it was after I saw it that I started to love you, Clear. You have the most beautiful face I've ever seen, and there's nothing ugly or scary or horrible about your leg. It's a part of you, so it's not ugly. No part of you could ever be ugly." He pecked Clear's cheek softly. "You're not a monster."

Clear kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, obviously trying not to cry anymore (though a few quiet sobs slipped out). He gradually released Aoba's wrists. "You can do what you were going to do before I stopped you. I'm okay now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Tentatively, Aoba finished taking Clear's clothes off. He then slowly kissed his way down Clear's body, nuzzling and caressing him all over until he reached his scarred calf. He rubbed his thumb against it, feeling the unusual texture of his skin. He didn't think it was ugly, though. It was beautiful in its own way.

Aoba was more emotional than he had been when they had been intimate before -- perhaps it was because he knew they wouldn't be able to be like that for a while. He looked up to Clear’s face, about to say something about the way he was feeling, but he couldn’t see past his dick. He thought that was really funny and it made him forget what he was going to say.

Speaking of Clear’s dick… Aoba had never done this before, but he found himself drawn like a magnet to it, and the next thing he knew, his mouth was mere centimetres away from the head of Clear's cock.

“A-Aoba, you don’t need to do that if you d-dont --”

“I want to,” Aoba breathed, and he meant it. He really wanted to. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to take Clear into his mouth until he actually got down there and pushed Clear’s legs apart and stared at him for a couple of seconds. His cock looked _delicious,_ for lack of a better word, with the way the tip was blushing and oozing with precome (had Clear enjoyed eating Aoba out _that much?)_ and Aoba was perfectly happy waxing poetic about it in his head until he heard Clear giggle and he realized he had been thinking out loud.

“If you wanted to do it _that_ bad, Aoba, all you had to do was ask!”

Aoba grit his teeth and forced himself not to punch Clear in the dick. “I-I didn’t realize I was talking!”

Clear gently stroked his hair. "I know. I didn't mean to make fun of you."

Aoba carefully wrapped his fingers around Clear's shaft. "It's just that...you did...that...for me, so I wanna..."

Clear patted his head again in encouragement. Aoba didn't really know what he was doing. The only experience he had with this was watching people do it to each other in videos, but he knew the basics: no teeth, use your hands, swirl your tongue. How hard could it be?

Aoba angled Clear's cock towards his mouth and wrapped his lips around the head, taking him in deeper inch by inch (by inch by inch -- Clear was a lot bigger than Aoba had remembered him being). He only managed to get about halfway down, which he thought was pretty good for a first try. Clear obviously thought it was pretty good, too.

"A-A-Aoba," he gasped, fisting his hands in Aoba's hair. He had probably meant to say something after that, but then Aoba started to suck at him and his words turned into a series of breathy moans.

Going down on Clear was a lot more fun than Aoba had expected! Nothing about it was unpleasant, and the way Clear reacted to it was cute. He was gripping at the sheets and wriggling around and getting all blushy. Aoba hadn't thought he would be very skilled at it, being so inexperienced, but Clear didn't seem to know the difference.

"Aoba, t-this feels really good, but I need you to stop," Clear urged, (very gently) tugging on Aoba's hair.

Aoba pulled back obediently and crawled up the bed until he was close enough to kiss Clear on the lips. Although they had just put their mouths on each other's nether regions, neither one of them had a problem with kissing.

Aoba had his legs on either side of Clear's hips, straddling him. He searched blindly for the lube, then pressed it into Clear's palm. Clear understood and, after a few seconds, slipped two slicked-up fingers inside of him.

Aoba didn't want to stop kissing Clear. He kept their mouths pressed together the entire time Clear was fingering him, and they stayed that way when Clear rolled them over so he was on top, and even when Clear pushed into him. He wanted nothing more than to be as close to Clear as possible.

"Aoba," Clear said (though his voice was muffled by Aoba's lips). "Is something wrong?"

"No." Aoba squeezed his arms and legs around Clear's body as tightly as he could, rocking his hips up to meet him. "I'm gonna miss this, though."

Clear smiled fondly, gently knocking his nose into Aoba's before kissing him again. He picked up his pace and Aoba squeezed him impossibly tighter, closing his eyes and trying to commit as much of it to memory as he could.

They didn't say anything else to each other until after they had both finished. Aoba snuggled up beside Clear, resting his head on his chest while Clear absently drew little hearts with his finger on Aoba's arm.

"I'm gonna miss you," Aoba whispered. He pressed a fleeting kiss to Clear's sternum and sighed.

"I will miss being like this with you, too, but it's only temporary."

Aoba kissed up to Clear's neck and slid their legs together, trying to ignore the way his scales caught against the hair on Clear's leg. He started to get insecure about it again, and it probably showed because Clear slipped his hands under Aoba's arms and started to tickle him.

"Ah!" Aoba cried, quickly getting overcome with giggles. "S-Stop it!"

Clear didn't let up, so Aoba grabbed his ankle and tickled the bottom of his foot. That made Clear stop tickling him, but Aoba kept going; the sound of Clear's laughter was beautiful and Aoba didn't want it to stop. Clear tried to kick his foot out of Aoba's grasp, but Aoba held on, trying to draw out as many giggles as he could.

"I c-can't take it anymore!" Clear gasped between bouts of laughter. "P-Please, Aoba!"

Aoba showed some mercy and released Clear's twitching leg. "That's what you get for tickling me in the first place!" He lay back down beside Clear and let his guard down, thinking it was safe to do so.

The peace lasted ten seconds before Clear pounced on him again, tickling his sides until Aoba was in tears.

*     *     *

The next morning, as Aoba prepared himself to spend the next thirty days in a watery hellscape, he remembered that he hadn't yet talked about it with his friends. They still had no idea Aoba was a merperson! He had been putting it off as long as he could because he was afraid of how they would react. Koujaku and Mink had wanted to _kill_ the merpeople when they had first seen them! Though they had had a change of heart, what if they were still weirded out by it? What if they didn't treat Aoba the same anymore?

He went down to the kitchen, glad to see that everyone was there already. He could tell them all at once.

"Good morning," he said. He received a few tired grumbles in reply. "So, uh...I have something to tell you."

Noiz took a sip of his coffee. "We know you're gay, Aoba."

"No, uh, not that! It's about the whole thing that happened with Toue."

"You still haven't told us," Mizuki said. "It's been over a week!"

"I know, I know, I was just...whatever. So, um, so Clear and I went down to the water to tell his brothers about the whole -- like, about how they can have legs and stuff, and while we were talking to them, um..." Aoba paused to swallow. He was nervous. "Toue came out of nowhere and started talking about his whole plan or whatever and he put a knife to my throat and he...said I was...um...well, see, after he found out about the merpeople in the ocean, he tried to, like, build off of them and make a species of merpeople that were better, I guess. And, um...I was one of the ones he made."

Everyone blinked in confusion for a few seconds.

"You're a mermaid?" Mizuki asked.

"A merman, technically, but...yeah."

The room was silent. Maybe first thing in the morning was the wrong time to tell his friends the truth?

"How? What? Why?" Koujaku spluttered. "What?!"

"So the kids he killed," Noiz said. "Those were your brothers, then?"

Aoba nodded.

Koujaku and Mizuki looked incredibly shocked, but Noiz and Mink seemed indifferent.

"And, um...one of the guys who used to work for Toue -- the same one that saved Clear and showed him he could be a human -- he told me I had to go live in the ocean for a month so I won't die."

Now everyone looked shocked.

"You have to _live in the ocean?!"_ Koujaku asked in disbelief.

"I know! I wasn't gonna do it, but I also...you know...I don't wanna die, either."

"It's actually true, right? You know for a fact it's true?" Mizuki asked.

"Yeah. Toue pushed me in the ocean and I had a tail and stuff."

"Shit," Noiz cursed under his breath.

"And to think that we were so willing to kill one of your species," Mink said. "I'm sorry we disrespected you, Aoba."

"No, that's -- it's fine! I understand where you guys were coming from. I'm not offended."

"So when are you leaving to go...live...in the ocean?" Mizuki asked reluctantly.

"Today. Now, actually. I wanna get it over with, so I'm going as soon as possible."

"How does your boyfriend feel about this?" Koujaku asked. "Is he gonna live with you in the water?"

"No. He's getting a job, so he's gonna stay on land most of the time."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, that's not so --"

"We'll miss you!" Mizuki cut in. "We'll miss you a lot. Can we come visit you?"

Aoba shrugged. "Sure, why not? I'll ask Clear to bring you along with him once I'm used to being in the water."

Everyone (except for Mink) hugged Aoba goodbye and wished him well as he headed out.

Aoba felt like he was walking to his own execution as he approached the water. He met Clear at the shore, who looked just as nervous as Aoba felt.

"Are you ready?" Clear asked him.

"No," Aoba said, "But it's not like I have a choice."

After making sure nobody was watching them, Aoba undressed as quickly as he could, shoving his clothes into Clear's arms and rushing into the water. He felt himself transform, and once he was done, he looked up at Clear.

"Aren't you coming in, too?"

Clear shook his head. "I have to go to work."

Aoba noticed, then, that Clear's hands were fidgety and his lips were pursed and he had his arms crossed over himself. Clear had never been in a social situation without Aoba or his brothers or his grandfather before, and now he had to not only be by himself in public, but _serve customers!_

Aoba coaxed him closer with his finger. "C'mere."

Clear got down on his knees on the rock. Aoba held himself up out of the water with one hand and fisted the other in Clear's shirt, tugging him down and kissing him.

"I know you're scared," he murmured once he pulled away. "And I wish I could be there with you, but I know you're strong enough to handle this on your own. I'm proud of you for doing this, even though it scares you."

Clear smiled, though his eyes filled with tears. "That means so much to me, Aoba!" He pulled Aoba further out of the water and hugged him against his chest.

"Ehh -- wait, Clear! I'm getting you all wet!"

Clear loosened his grip and leaned back, looking down at himself. "Oh! You're right!" He let Aoba back into the water.

"You should probably get going, right?"

"Yes."

Aoba took his hand a squeezed it. "I'll think about you all day."

"I will think about you, too. Remember not to try to swim too far, okay? It is impossible for you to drown, but that doesn't mean you couldn't potentially hurt yourself."

"I won't. You'll help me swim later, right? When you get back?"

"Yes, of course." Clear squeezed Aoba's hand back and released it, walking away to face was was sure to be the worst day of his life. Aoba watched him until he disappeared out of sight, then let himself sink under the water, unsure of what he was going to do for eight hours while he waited for Clear to come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //shamelessly skims over sex scene bc i have no new ideas that would fit with the mood of the chapter
> 
> so. two more chapters left!! it was supposed to be one more chapter but fuck it!! fuck it. two more chapters


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aoba endures life in the ocean. Clear endures life on land.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back to another edition of Clear and Aoba Talking and Doing Literally Nothing Else! it's been a while since the last installment lol but i can assure you that i haven't been hiding anything significant from you. it's the same old dance. clear and aoba talk and kiss and gaze lovingly into each other's eyes. nothing else happens. nothing else is ever going to happen
> 
> ok actually tho i feel really bad for not updating for like 3 weeks.....i mean im busy with real life stuff but this chapter has been almost written, just sitting in my drafts folder, patiently waiting for me to return from war so i could clean it up (???) before posting
> 
> enjoy!!!

It took Aoba a few days to find out that he was the only merperson who was staying in the water twenty-four-seven. Since Clear was busy with his job, the Alphas had taken it upon themselves to spread the truth about Toue to all the merfolk around the island. Everyone was gone, testing out their new legs and learning everything there was to learn about themselves. Maybe that was a good thing; nobody was there to see Aoba's sad attempt at swimming.

Clear seemed to be getting used to working. He worked at a stand at the market that sold art (some of which was his own). According to him, some people had offered to pay him a lot more money to paint specific things for them. He wondered if it was a good idea.

"I think it's a great idea!" Aoba said. They were half-sitting-half-floating on Clear's bed in his underwater home. It was a pretty sophisticated setup, considering that most of it was made of sand.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, as long as they don't ask you to paint anything weird. What are the paintings like that you sell right now?"

"They're of things around the sea, like fish and plants."

"None of me?" Aoba asked, half-joking.

Clear shook his head. "No. Would you like me to display some of the paintings I've done of you?"

Aoba shrugged. "It's fine with me, as long as I look good in them.”

Clear’s eyes brightened. “Really?”

“Yeah. But they have to be dignified. Keep it classy.”

“Of course, Aoba! I would never want to degrade you.”

“Do you think people will actually wanna buy them, though?”

"I'm sure they will sell very well, Aoba! Who wouldn't want your beautiful face on their wall?"

Aoba rolled his eyes and ruffled Clear's hair affectionately.

It didn't take long for Aoba to get used to living in the water -- though that didn't necessarily mean he was happy with it. Clear seemed to be getting used to working, too.

Or so Aoba thought, until Clear came back to the shore after work one day, wearing a particular accessory that Aoba had thought he was done with.

"Um, Clear...why are you wearing that?"

"Oh!" Clear's hands flew up to his face, feeling the surface of his gas mask. "I forgot I still had it on!"

"Why are you wearing that?" Aoba repeated, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I-I just thought, m-maybe if people saw the Alphas around the island and knew they were merpeople, they would know by my face that I was one of them. I didn't intend for you to find out because I know how much it bothers you, so I am truly sorry..."

"So you've been wearing your mask every day?"

"Y-Yes. I wasn't able to find my original one, so Grandfather gave me a new one."

"I have your old one. It's in my closet."

"How did you...?"

"I saw it while I was sitting with your brothers on the rocks. They swam out and got it for me. That's what made me really think you were dead."

"Oh, Aoba...I'm so sorry about that." He went in to hug Aoba, but he presumably forgot he was still wearing his big, clunky gas mask and he wound up smacking Aoba in the face with it.

"Will you take this stupid thing off?" Aoba grumbled.

"Yes, I will." He loosened the straps on his mask and pulled it off.

Aoba placed his hands on Clear's cheeks and stared at him for a second. "Are you sure that's the only reason you wore your mask again?"

"I suppose it made me feel more comfortable about being in public, too," Clear mused. "I'm not insecure about showing my face to you, but to be that vulnerable around so many strangers would be too much."

"Has anyone said anything about your mask?"

"Some customers have asked me about it, but most of them have said they think it's an interesting 'statement,' because they can focus on my art on its own instead of focusing on me as an artist." He tilted his head to the side. "I'm not trying to make a statement by wearing it, but they must think that because I'm an artist, everything I do is supposed to be deep and meaningful."

Aoba moved his hands to Clear's shoulders. "I want you to stop wearing it."

"Why? The customers are used to me having it on."

"But you only ever wore it in the first place because of Toue. He's dead now, Clear, so he shouldn't have any power over you."

Clear paused, contemplating Aoba's words as if he hadn't yet realized how serious Aoba was. "I understand what you're saying, Aoba, but I disagree. Dead people hold more power than the living. They become immortalized, frozen in time, especially if they die young. Toue's final moments were so dramatic that he will not be forgotten. His impact on my life will never go away."

Aoba shook his head. "He only has power if you give him power. He can't make you do anything, Clear. He can't make you wear the mask anymore."

"He's not _making_ me wear it, Aoba. I'm wearing it of my own volition."

"But you only wore it in the first place because he told you to. You wouldn't be wearing it now if it weren't for him!"

"That's my point, Aoba. He conditioned me to feel uncomfortable with showing my face, and that feeling will never go away."

Aoba's nose burned and he felt his eyes fill with tears. "Don't say that, Clear! What kind of life will you have if you experience it through a gas mask?"

Clear's expression softened and he kissed Aoba on the forehead, pulling him into a hug. "I'm not wearing it now, and as long as I can see you properly, I won't feel robbed of anything."

"B-But...your face is so pretty, it's a shame to hide it from everyone else!"

Aoba heard a laugh rumble in Clear's chest. "They like the gas mask."

"They'd like your face better," Aoba argued between sniffles.

Clear exhaled a heavy sigh. "I'll try not wearing it tomorrow."

"You don't have to do that," Aoba mumbled half-heartedly. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable all day."

"No, I'll do it. I'll try."

*      *     *

Clear could tell that Aoba was bored out of his mind. Aoba asked him about _everything,_ from the minute details of his workday to what he had had for breakfast. Clear usually felt bad because he never had anything new or exciting to report to him, but he did today!

"Grandfather left the television on this morning while I was getting ready to go to work, and I saw a show about a man who lived in the ocean! Isn’t that exciting?”

"A man who lived in the ocean?” Aoba parrotted. “What was his name?"

"It was an English name. Robert, I think? Or maybe it was Bob. He lived in a pineapple under the sea --"

"Are you talking about Spongebob?".

Clear's eyes lit up with recognition. "Yes, that was it!"

Aoba looked at Clear like he was the dumbest person he had ever seen. "Spongebob isn't real."

“What? Really?”

“Yeah! He’s a talking _sponge!_ Have you ever seen a talking -- nevermind.”

"See? It _is_ possible! Land people don’t know everything there is to know about underwater life. Spongebob could be real.”

"That's...true, actually. But it's a cartoon! Nothing on the show actually happens.”

Clear let his shoulders slump forward in defeat. “You’re right. I’m stupid.”

“Hey!” Aoba barked, elbowing Clear in the side. “Don’t talk about yourself like that! You’re not stupid, you just made a mistake. Humans make mistakes all the time.”

“I know they do.”

Aoba rolled his eyes. “You’re a human, too. Right now, anyway.”

Clear was still downtrodden, despite Aoba’s words of reassurance. It was expected that Clear would make a few mistakes as he got used to human life, but he felt bad when he did. It made him feel like he was never supposed to have come out of the water in the first place.

Aoba gently rubbed circles into his back with one hand and reached for one of Clear’s hands with the other. “So what did you think of Spongebob? Did you like it?”

"Yes. Spongebob and Patrick reminded me quite a bit of the two of us."

"Does that mean Toue is Squidward?"

"I think Toue would be Plankton. Mink is probably Squidward."

"That makes more sense. So, am I Spongebob, or are you?"

Clear cocked his head to the side. "I think you would be Spongebob. He knows more than Patrick, and everybody likes him."

Aoba's eyebrows creased together, making him look annoyed. "Everybody likes you, too, Clear! And I don't know more than you, I just know different things. You know more about aquatic life than I do, don't you?"

"Yes, I do, Aoba, but that doesn't matter. It isn't valuable knowledge."

Aoba opened his mouth to reply, but he hesitated for a moment. He pursed his lips, frustrated, but he tried again a second later. "It's valuable to you, isn't it? And it's valuable to me, and to your brothers, and to your grandfather, and to every merperson around the island. That makes it valuable."

Clear nodded slowly, not really agreeing but not in the mood to argue. "I understand."

Aoba peered at him with scrutiny, but then his face opened up again and he visibly relaxed. "What episode was it?"

"What?"

"Spongebob. What episode was it?"

"Um, Squidward ran into an old acquaintance, and he felt bad about his life --"

"Oh my God, was it the one with Squilliam? Where Squidward pretends the Krusty Krab is a five-star restaurant?"

"Yes, that was the one! It was funny."

Aoba then did his best impression of Patrick saying _"May I take your hat, sir?"_ like a weenie, sending Clear into a laughing fit. Aoba sounded just like him!

The next day Clear went to visit Aoba, he brought a portable DVD player (careful not to drop it in the sea) and the first season of Spongebob. They watched it together until it was time to go underwater so they could go to bed.

After they had finished watching it, Clear was more convinced than before that he was the ‘Patrick’ in their relationship. He didn’t bring it up, though, because he knew how mad Aoba would get. Aoba hated it when Clear ran himself down.

*     *     *

Aoba had no idea what time it was, but based on the position of the sun in the sky, he knew Clear would be home from work soon.

_Home! This is my home now!_

He was deep under the water, weaving seaweed with no real goal in mind when he heard someone call his name.

"Aoba? Aobaaa? Are you down here?"

Aoba looked around. "Yeah...?"

"It's us! The Alphas!"

Aoba looked up and saw them swimming down towards him.

"Oh, hey. I thought you guys weren't coming back for a while?"

"We heard you were down here by yourself and we wanted to keep you company!"

Aoba smiled. "Thanks."

"What are you up to?" Alpha One asked.

"I was just..." He looked down at the seaweed in his hands, unsure of what to say. "Uh, killing time, mostly. What do you guys usually do down here?"

"When he lived down here, we didn't know how things were on the surface world. Knowing what we know now, it seems pretty boring down here..."

"But there are still lots of interesting things to see if you haven't been here very long!"

The Alphas led Aoba around, showing him everything there was to see. He wished Clear could have been the one to tell him about the ecosystem and the migration patterns of all the different species, but the Alphas were doing a good job. They certainly knew a lot about marine life!

Once Aoba had taken in as much information as his brain could handle, he went up to the surface to wait for Clear, who would be arriving any second. His face broke out into a grin when he saw Clear approach with all of Aoba's housemates in tow.

"Look, Aoba! I brought your friends!"

Mizuki slung his arm around Clear's shoulders. "Hey, we're your friends, too, you know."

Clear blushed, but he didn't flinch away from the physical contact. Aoba smiled wider when he noticed that. It must have meant Clear was getting more comfortable being around other people.

"Hey! Awesome!" Alpha Two said after he surfaced. "More humans!"

"You look like Clear," Noiz said.

"So do I!" Alpha One exclaimed, popping up from under the waves.

"We're his brothers! What's your name?"

"Noiz."

"Cool! I'm Alpha Two, and this is Alpha One."

Noiz crouched down so he was almost at face-level with them. "Sweet. You guys can be human, too, right? Why don't you come out?

"We can, but I don't have any pants to put on, and Clear says I could get arrested if I don't wear them."

Noiz snorted with laughter.

Aoba was stunned. Noiz and the Alphas were hitting it off? Why? What? How?

Clear seemed equally as shocked, but he quickly recovered and took a seat beside Aoba. "How are you, sunshine?"

Aoba was embarrassed at Clear's use of his pet name in front of his friends. "Um, I'm alright, I guess. How was your day?"

"It was great! I sold a painting of you."

"Really? Who did you sell it to?"

"A very nice woman. She said you were so beautiful that she couldn't look away!"

"You have a tail!" Koujaku suddenly cried, addressing the elephant in the room.

"Yeah!" Aoba laughed. "I told you I was a merman."

"I know, but...it's different to actually see it! I've known you forever! I never would've thought..."

“I never would have thought, either, but here I am!”

After an open forum of questions from his friends -- mostly about his bodily functions as a merperson, much to Aoba’s chagrin -- Aoba tugged on Clear’s sleeve and told him to come in the water, too. He invited everyone to come in, actually, but he knew only Clear would do it. Koujaku said he didn’t want to ruin his hair, Mink and Mizuki didn’t give any particular reasons, and Noiz said he couldn’t swim. Alpha Two offered to teach him, and Noiz said he would be down for it at a later date (which made Aoba wonder if his ears were playing tricks on him -- had he _actually_ heard Noiz say that?). The four of them ended up leaving only a few minutes after Clear joined Aoba in the water because they didn’t want to impose. The sun was setting and Aoba didn’t want to keep them too late, so he let them go.

He and Clear sat on a rock (a different rock than usual), watching the sky change from blue to pink to orange to black. Clear had his arm around Aoba’s waist and Aoba had his head on Clear’s shoulder and, in that moment, Aoba thought it wasn’t so bad to be a merperson. He dragged the end of his tail over Clear’s in a repetitive motion and turned his head a little bit so he could look at him. Clear looked down at him, too, and smiled, bumping their foreheads together affectionately.

Clear then leaned in towards Aoba’s ear and whispered “I love you” as if it were a secret that nobody else was allowed to hear. Those words were reserved solely for Aoba; nobody else would ever feel Clear's love the same way he did. It made Aoba feel special.

He took Clear's hand into his own and turned it over, drawing a heart with his finger on the inside of his palm. When he was done, he curled Clear's hand into a fist and held it shut for a few seconds, hoping Clear understood what he meant.

_I love you too._

*     *     *

"So, what do you think, Seragaki-san?"

"I think it's perfect! And, please, call me Clear!"

(When Clear's grandfather had registered him as a citizen, he had given Clear a random last name -- after all, Clear had been pretty doped up on painkillers while his leg was healing. He had been in no shape to choose his own last name. Once Clear had received his identification, though, he realized he didn't like the look of his name, so he asked his grandfather to go about changing it. He just hoped Aoba wouldn't be too mad.)

Clear was in the process of doing something very exciting! It was to be a surprise for Aoba once he was able to live on land again. He had been working very hard in order to bring everything together in time, and he had just completed a very important (and very expensive) step!

In order to finance his big, secret project, Clear spent eight hours a day selling his art at the market, and then another four hours making it. That left him with approximately four waking hours to spend with Aoba in the water. He felt bad about leaving so little time for him, but he knew what he was working towards, so it would definitely be worth it. If everything went smoothly, Aoba would completely understand why he had behaved in such a way.

When Clear went down to the shore that evening, Aoba was sitting on one of the rocks, staring out at the sunset. He looked so lovely and serene and absolutely _perfect_ that Clear wished he had his sketchbook with him to capture the image. Clear could have just stood there for hours, staring at the way Aoba’s tail gently swayed along the surface of the water, upper body bowing forward as he rested his weight on his palms behind him. His narrow shoulders were halfway up to his ears, but he didn’t look uncomfortable in the position.

Clear hated to disturb him, but he had to. "I'm here, Aoba!"

Aoba perked up at the sound of Clear's voice and turned to grin at him, holding one arm up in a wave. Clear went and sat beside him on the rock, folding his legs underneath himself so his feet wouldn't get wet (if he kept transforming while he was still dressed, he would run out of pants!).

Aoba immediately coiled an arm around Clear's waist. "How was work today?"

"It was alright. I would have much rather been here with you."

Aoba smiled. "I know." He leaned closer against Clear and snuggled his face into his neck. "I missed you today. I miss you every day."

Clear felt a stab of guilt in his gut. "I'm sorry. I miss you, too. Only one more week, right?"

Aoba's smile widened again. "Right! Then I can finally get the fuck out of here!"

Clear chuckled, tilting his head so it rested on top of Aoba's. “I can’t wait to have you back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what could clear possibly have up his sleeve??? it is a Total Mystery


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really didn't think i was gonna finish this. because. well. not to delve to deeply into the details of my life but a lot of things have been preventing me from doing much of anything lately!! so i didn't think i was going to finish this but i also knew that wasn't fair to you guys, and also this has been sitting in my drafts 90% finished for T W O M O N T H S so i thought i might as well do it!! so here it is :^)

It was Aoba’s last night in the ocean. In the morning, Aoba would be able to leave with Clear, instead of having to sit around all day waiting for him to get back. The concept both excited and terrified Clear. Yes, he was very happy to have Aoba back in all aspects, but there was a vague sense of dread that washed over him when he thought about Aoba coming out of the water. As long as Aoba stayed in the ocean, he would be safe and intact and completely alive. Clear wasn’t sure that the same would be true when the circumstances changed.

Clear was so anxious that he barely slept that night. He held tightly onto Aoba (which, as far as Aoba knew, was to prevent them from floating away from each other while they were sleeping) and tried to memorize the warm, familiar feeling of Aoba’s body in his arms in case -- well, in case…

Just in case.

*     *     *

Aoba awoke the next morning with Clear clinging to him so hard that his nails were digging into the skin on Aoba’s back. His face was nestled into the side of Aoba’s neck, and Aoba could feel the vibrations coming from his snores, which was kind of cute.

He knew, obviously, why Clear had practically glued the two of them together: he was worried that he was going to lose Aoba. Aoba was worried, too. But if he wanted to be able to live his life normally, he had to take this risk. Sooner was better than later.

Aoba wiggled around in an attempt to loosen Clear’s hold. “Clear.”

“Mmm?” Clear hummed, the sound gravelly with sleep.

“It’s morning. It’s time for me to --”

“Mmm,” Clear hummed again, but this time it was in protest.

“Clear, come on --”

“Mmm!” Clear repeated, squeezing Aoba even tighter. His body started to tremble and Aoba realized he was crying.

“Aww, Clear, it’ll be okay,” Aoba cooed. “Don’t cry. I’ll be fine.”

Clear moved his face away from Aoba’s neck in order to speak. “Y-y-y-you d-don’t know t-that!”

Aoba petted Clear’s hair in a way that he hoped was soothing. “If I’m not fine, you’ll be here, right? You’ll help me. I know you will.”

Eventually, Aoba coaxed Clear to let him go so they could get on with it.

Clear got out first and waited until he had fully changed so he was ready in case he had to run for help. He sat cross-legged on the rock once he had put his pants back on, then reached his arms out to help Aoba out of the water. Before he picked him up, though, he kissed him softly on the lips.

Aoba’s heart thumped all the way down into his stomach as Clear lifted him up onto the rock. He had expected Clear to set him down on the rock beside him, so he was surprised when, instead, Clear pulled him into his lap and held him.

“I’m gonna get you all wet,” Aoba mumbled.

Clear nuzzled his nose against the side of Aoba’s face. “I don’t care.”

There was nothing they could do but wait. Aoba felt the expected mild pain of his gills closing off and his scales retracting one by one into his skin.

Clear whimpered softly in Aoba's ear, which wasn't very reassuring, but Aoba supposed he was trying his best to keep it together. Given how emotional Clear could be, he was doing a pretty good job at keeping calm.

"How do you feel? Are you alright?" Clear asked gently.

"Yeah," Aoba breathed, too petrified to manage anything more than a whisper. "I don't think anything bad is happening --"

"I love you."

"What?"

"I love you, Aoba."

"Clear, I'm not dying --"

"I love you so much!" Clear sobbed. "Please don't leave me alone!"

"It's fine, Clear! It's gonna be fine!"

Aoba actually wasn't totally sure that it was fine. His entire body hurt like a motherfucker, which had never happened before. Then again, Aoba had never fully transformed back from merman to human before, so it could have been a good sign.

He felt the rate of his change slowing down until it came to a stop. He didn’t want to look. What if, after all that time in the ocean, he still hadn’t completely transformed? He didn’t feel any discomfort, but he couldn’t be sure that everything was okay. Slowly, he peeked one eye open and peered down at his legs.

The scales were gone.

“Clear,” he mumbled breathlessly, nudging Clear with his elbow, “Look! Look at me!”

“Is it bad?”

“No! Look!”

Clear reluctantly opened his eyes to see how Aoba had fared. His eyes widened and he gasped as he slid his hand down Aoba’s smooth, scaleless thigh.

Aoba felt his face break into a grin. “I’m okay!”

Clear smiled, too, and started to laugh. “You’re okay!”

*     *     *

Clear’s grandfather had instructed them to go see him once they had left the water so he could follow up with Aoba about his condition. He conducted an in-depth physical examination and determined that, finally, Aoba could enter and exit the ocean whenever he pleased.

Right after saying that, though, he added, "Go back in the water for tonight, and stay there until morning so we can be sure that you're safe, okay?"

Clear saw Aoba’s jaw tense. “Are you serious?”

Clear’s grandfather’s face was sympathetic. “I know you just spent a month in the ocean, and you two probably have a lot of...er...catching up...to do…” He cleared his throat. “But it’s important that we are as sure as we can be about this.”

Aoba rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

Aoba was in good spirits for the rest of the day, clearly happy to be on land again. When it was time for them to go to the shore that evening, however, Aoba grew visibly irritated. He grumbled under his breath as he hid his clothes under a rock and begrudgingly slid into the water. Clear followed suit, swimming further and further towards the ocean floor until he found Aoba sulking by a patch of seaweed.

“Aobaaa,” Clear said in a soft voice, “Please don’t be grumpy!”

Aoba’s pout increased in intensity and he turned away from Clear slightly.

_I am going to have to deploy some of my most deadly tactics in order to cheer up Aoba!_

“Hey, Aoba, why don’t lobsters like to share?”

Aoba didn’t reply.

Despite Aoba’s lack of enthusiasm, Clear grinned and said, “Because they’re _shellfish!”_

Aoba didn’t respond. Clear decided to try another joke.

“What did the seaweed do when it got stuck?”

Aoba glanced at Clear for a split second, but otherwise acted as if he hadn’t heard him.

“It cried out for _kelp!”_

Aoba remained stoic. Clear persevered. He told Aoba every joke he knew, and when none of those made Aoba smile, Clear tried making silly faces. Those didn’t work, either.

Exasperated at this point, Clear resorted to his final and most powerful weapon: he picked Aoba up (which was easy due to the buoyancy) and pressed his face against Aoba’s abdomen, blowing a raspberry against his skin. Aoba barked at him to stop and tried to push his head away, but he couldn’t, and his protests eventually dissolved into giggles.

Satisfied, Clear let Aoba go, though he kept an arm around his shoulders.

“I know you don’t want to be down here," Clear said, "But it’s only one night, and then you never have to come here again if you don’t want to.”

Aoba sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like it here...”

“Then what’s got you so upset?”

Aoba’s voice was barely a mumble. “I mean… It’s been a whole _month,_ Clear…”

 _Oh._ Clear felt himself blush a little bit. He cleared his throat and said, “W-Well, that doesn’t mean we can’t still…”

“I am _not_ touching your fish dick.”

Clear didn't try to talk him into it, and they went to bed shortly after. Clear didn't dream that night. He only realized he had fallen asleep when he woke up in the morning with Aoba incessantly nudging him in the ribs.

“Clear...what is all this?”

“What?”

“This stuff on the sand. What is it?”

Clear examined the sand beneath them. Directly below Aoba, there was a small pile of twenty or thirty tiny blue spheres. They looked almost like…eggs. They were coated in a white substance that Clear immediately recognized as semen.

"D-Didn't you say," Aoba stammered, "That merpeople sometimes reproduce without meaning to?"

Clear nodded slowly. While they had been sleeping, their bodies had apparently decided now was the right time to have kids. Interesting.

“W-We should ask Grandfather,” he offered weakly. "He'll know what to do, right?"

Aoba nodded slowly, eyes glued on the gamete-covered sand. "Yeah."

Neither one of them moved.

“They’re so tiny," Clear whispered, still astonished.

"Yeah."

“We need to get them out of the ocean,” Clear said, suddenly feeling protective. “What if something eats them?”

Aoba looked up to meet Clear's gaze. "Uh. I guess so...I mean..."

"I know we didn't really...well...it's a surprise, but it's still..." Clear fumbled for words. "They're still...ours...right?"

Aoba looked down at the eggs again, staring at them for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah. But let’s ask your grandfather about it first.”

*     *     *

Aoba fully transformed once they left the water, so after a brief celebration, they went to Clear's grandfather's house to get more information about the eggs.

Clear's grandfather assured them that only a small percentage of the eggs would hatch. There would probably be only about half of the eggs left by the time they got back, and he said most of those would fail to develop, which was a relief to everyone involved. He explained that their offspring would need to remain in seawater even after hatching, until they were the size of a normal human child. Only then would their bodies be capable of safely transforming.

Once that was cleared up, they headed to Aoba’s house to find some kind of container. Luckily, Aoba happened to still have that giant fish tank in his backyard, which would be perfect for when the merchildren started to grow.

"Remember this?" Aoba asked, patting the side of the tank with his hand.

"Yes, I do! That was a very fun night," Clear said with a grin. "But there is something I don't remember."

Aoba blinked. "What is it?"

"I forgot how to kiss again. Could you show me once more? I promise it will be the last time."

Aoba fought the urge to groan or roll his eyes. Instead, he found a smile creeping to his lips as he gently cupped Clear's face and gave him a very unnecessary lesson.

"Liar," Aoba teased once they pulled apart. "You totally knew what you were doing."

They brought the tank down to the shore, which Aoba found was a lot easier when he had another (much stronger) set of hands to help. They used a bucket to scoop sand into the bottom of the tank, then filled it with water, and then very, very carefully collected the eggs and transported them to their new home. Clear put a few underwater plants in the tank (to make the eggs feel more at home). Once they were positive they had all the eggs, they towed their little ecosystem away from the shore to bring it to a more permanent location.

Aoba sighed. "Where will we put them? I don't have room at my house, and I don't feel right leaving them with your grandfather."

"Right! Um, about that...I have something to show you. Would you mind taking a walk with me?"

*     *     *

Aoba stopped walking suddenly. "Um. Clear?"

"Yes, Aoba?"

"Is that me?"

Clear's face snapped up and he followed Aoba's gaze. He was referring to the wall mural Clear had painted a few weeks ago. It was a scene he had painted from memory of the shoreline he and Aoba spent the majority of their time. He had included Aoba sitting on a rock, though he hadn't put it a lot of detail, so it could have been any blue-haired merman!

Word had gotten out that Clear was actually a merperson once Aoba had forbidden him from wearing his mask to work, which made his popularity go through the roof! The folks around the island had heard of the merpeople through word of mouth, but to actually interact with one was a whole other story. People were buying his art faster than he could make it! It eventually got to the point where people were commissioning him to produce very large works, like the one Aoba was gaping at in shock.

"I was inspired by you, yes. Do you not like it? I should have asked you for permission first! I'm sorry."

"No, I..." He trailed off, staring at the painting with wide eyes. "I love it. It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful," Clear countered.

Aoba fixed his awestruck gaze on Clear instead. He stared at him for a few seconds before murmuring, "You're beautiful, too."

Clear was going to lose his mind. He wanted to squeeze Aoba in a hug and kiss him all over and gush about how much he loved him, but he knew Aoba was easily embarrassed, so he restrained himself. He simply said, "You're very sweet," and took Aoba's hand, pulling him further along the sidewalk.

When they got to their destination, Clear stopped and led Aoba up the path to the building.

Aoba glanced at Clear in confusion. "Whose house is this?"

Clear didn't know how to start his sentence. He was so nervous and terrified of rejection that he couldn't speak.

"Clear, whose house is this?" Aoba asked with more insistence.

"It's, um..." He looked at the ground. "I realize, now, that I should have...I mean...it's kind of, well...it's our house, Aoba."

Aoba stood there, frozen. "You bought a house?"

"Um. Yes. I had a lot more income than I anticipated, and before I knew it, I had enough for a down payment, and I saw this house and it was for sale and the backyard goes all the way to the ocean, which is perfect for us, and, I mean, we might have kids someday and they would need the water, too, and it needed a bit of fixing up but I knew I could take care of it, and if I didn't buy it, I knew someone else would..." Clear knew he was rambling, but he couldn't stop. His hands were shaking. "I'm sorry for making a decision like that without first asking you. I understand if you don't want to live here with me."

Aoba blinked. "You bought a house?"

"I...just explained it, Aoba. Yes, I bought a house."

"Oh." Aoba looked at the door. "Can we go inside?"

Clear fumbled around in his pocket for the keys, then opened the door. He pushed the tank into the corner of the room, to keep it out of harm’s way, while Aoba looked around at everything in astonishment.

"There's furniture in here and everything. Did you do all this?"

"Yes, Aoba. I wanted it to be ready."

Nodding slowly, Aoba turned and walked up the stairs. Clear followed him, nervously awaiting his reaction.

Aoba stopped in the middle of the hallway. "Did you paint this?" He was referring to the jellyfish motif painted on the wall.

"Yes. Do you like it?"

Aoba blinked and slowly turned to face Clear. "I can't believe you went to all this trouble," he whispered, a smile slowly spreading on his face. "I...don't know what to say. Thank you."

"S-So you want to live here with me?"

"Yes," Aoba said softly. His eyes got a little bit wet and he sniffed a few times.

Clear was so relieved! He pulled Aoba into a hug and squeezed him very hard so he would know how happy he was. Aoba hugged him back with what was probably all the force he could muster, but he pulled away after only a moment.

"Can you show me the rest of the house? I wanna see it!"

Clear smiled. "Absolutely! Do you want to see our bedroom first?"

"I think we should save that for the end," Aoba said with a glint in his eye. "After all, it's been a month since the last time we --"

Clear cut him off, clapping his hands together jovially. "Okay! I'll show you the downstairs first."

Clear showed Aoba the living room, then the kitchen, then the dining room. He had chosen mostly dark wood furniture because the nice lady at the furniture store said it wouldn't go out of style, but he had picked some turquoise and pale blue accent pieces because the colours had reminded him of the varying shades of Aoba's hair. He told Aoba that, which made him blush and examine the ends of his hair, comparing it to the decor.

"We still have a lot of money left over, so we don't have to be finished decorating if you're not happy with it."

"I'm happy with it," Aoba assured, "But now I wanna get some stuff that'll embarrass you, too."

Clear then took Aoba upstairs and showed him the guest bedrooms (which he knew could easily be converted into children's rooms) and the bathroom, which had a bathtub large enough for the two of them to comfortably fit in. Aoba pointed that out with a sly grin.

"And this is our room?" Aoba asked as he opened the door.

"Yes. I took a few creative liberties; I hope you don't mind."

"Ack!" Aoba covered his eyes and ran out of the room. "You're so embarrassing! I know you love me, but this is way too much!"

Clear giggled at Aoba's antics. Aoba was his muse, so he had tons of sketches of him, which he later used as reference to make tons of paintings featuring him as the main focus. So many paintings, in fact, that he was able to tastefully decorate their bedroom with almost a dozen portraits of his lover. Only a few of them were sexually suggestive!

"I'll take them down," Clear said, defeated.

"You can leave one of them up. _One._ But it can't be one where I'm naked."

Clear pouted. "You're no fun!"

"That's life, son. Get used to it. Why do you have so many pictures of me, anyway?"

"I spent a lot of time painting you because I was so worried about you," Clear admitted.

Aoba's slightly annoyed expression softened.

They decided on the one featuring both of them as mermen sitting on their rock. Aoba was resting his head on Clear's shoulder and their tails were entwined. Clear had to admit he had really captured how totally in love with each other they were. They hung it above their bed.

"This one's really nice," Aoba commented. "We look really happy."

"Yes, we do."

"You know what would make me happy right now?" Aoba asked as he snaked his arm around Clear's waist.

"I think I can guess," Clear said with a chuckle. "Can you not wait any longer? I haven't shown you the backyard yet."

Aoba sighed. "It's just that I'm finally out of the water, and I missed you so much, and now we're in our bedroom in our home that you worked so hard on..." He looked down at his feet. "I really wanna be close to you. It's not just because I'm super horny.” He paused. “Well, not _entirely_ because I'm super horny, I guess."

Clear gently pulled Aoba in against his chest and kissed the top of his head. "I understand."

Aoba stayed still for a few seconds, nuzzling with Clear innocently, but it wasn't long before he was kissing Clear's neck and nibbling at his skin as if he was trying to leave marks. Aoba's mouth was warm and soft and wet, and Clear wanted nothing more than to explore it with his own. That's exactly what he did; he gently guided Aoba's face away from his neck and kissed him properly.

It had been far too long since the last time they had touched one another, and Clear was feeling particularly eager, so he nudged Aoba towards the bed.

“Sit down,” he commanded gently. Aoba followed without hesitation. Clear knelt on the floor in front of him and started to undo his belt.

“W-What are you doing?” Aoba stammered, stiffening as if he was going to move away.

Clear smiled. “You did it for me last time. I want to do it to you, too.”

Aoba grumbled a little bit in embarrassment but relaxed after a moment, looking down at Clear expectantly.

Clear didn’t know what the hell he was doing. He was just going to have to take it one step at a time. After loosening Aoba’s belt, he tugged his pants and underwear down past his knees. Aoba kicked one of his legs free. Clear then pushed Aoba’s torso down flat against the bed and helped him pull his shirt over his head.

He looked down at Aoba, who was now naked (except for his pants hanging off of one ankle) and half-hard. Clear’s breath caught in his throat. Aoba was just _so_ beautiful and alluring that Clear had to take a moment to regain the ability to think.

It seemed less daunting to start somewhere small and work his way up -- well, down, technically -- so Clear began with Aoba’s nipples, teasing them briefly with his fingers and then with his mouth. Aoba seemed to really like it, so Clear kept at it for a few minutes before he started to trail little kisses down Aoba’s abdomen. When he finally reached Aoba’s cock, he felt ready, so he swirled his tongue over the tip. Aoba inhaled a shaky gasp and reached a hand out to pet Clear’s head.

Aoba’s cock was a little on the smaller side, so Clear didn’t have any trouble taking it all into his mouth. He remembered what it felt like when Aoba did this to him and he tried to mimic that, sucking as he pulled back and licking at the tip before moving down again. He pushed Aoba’s thighs apart and held them down against the bed as he did it, and Aoba tangled both of his hands in Clear’s hair and moaned with what seemed to be no restraint.

Clear remembered something so he stopped and pulled back, which was met with a disappointed whine from Aoba.

“Why are you stopping?” He asked, lifting himself up on his elbows to peer down at Clear.

“I’m not! I’m just…” Clear trailed off as he dug through the drawer beside the bed until he found what he was looking for.

Aoba blinked. “You had lube in here already?”

“W-Well, I didn’t want to run into a situation where we needed it but we didn’t have any!”

Aoba laughed. “I guess that was a good idea.”

Clear got back to his task, but while he pleasured Aoba with his mouth he lubricated two of his fingers and started to circle Aoba’s entrance with them. After a moment, he slipped one in, and then the other. The feeling of Aoba’s tight warmth around his fingers made Clear remember what it felt like to be inside of him and he moaned a little bit at the thought.

Aoba tugged softly on Clear’s hair. “Y-You can stop now. I’m ready.”

Clear looked up and let Aoba’s dick slip out of his mouth. “Are you sure? I can keep doing it until you finish, if you want.”

Aoba blushed. “N-No, it’s fine! I want you...to...be inside of me.”

Clear knew he would never forget the look on Aoba’s face as he said that. His words just kept repeating over and over again in his head. _I want you to be inside of me._

Aoba was driving Clear crazy.

Once Clear had released Aoba’s legs from his firm grip, Aoba took his other foot out of his pants and lay down in the middle of the bed properly. Clear intended to simply undress and get on with it, but as soon as he had taken his shirt off, Aoba pulled him onto the mattress and rolled them over so that he was sitting on Clear’s hips, straddling him.

"I missed you so much," he murmured, running his hand down the front of Clear's abdomen. “I missed doing this with you.”

“I’ve missed you, too, Aoba,” Clear said, and he really meant it.

Aoba said he really wanted to reciprocate what Clear had done for him, but he didn’t have the patience. Clear agreed, so he took the rest of his clothes off and waited. Based on their positions, he assumed Aoba wanted to be on top, which was proven to be right when Aoba shuffled forward on his knees and got into position. He hovered over Clear’s cock for a moment; his eyes raked over Clear's body and he bit his lip with a soft groan. The look on his face suggested that, in that moment, he wanted Clear more than anything else in the world.

“Are you ready?” Aoba asked, slowly moving his hips up and down, rubbing the cleft of his ass against Clear’s cock.

Clear couldn’t form any words, so he simply nodded, and Aoba started to lower himself. Clear’s mind went blank and all he could focus on was how absolutely perfect Aoba felt around him. Once Aoba had taken Clear in fully and had let himself adjust, his eyes fluttered open and he looked down at Clear with a grin.

“You know what I just realized?”

Clear found Aoba’s grin contagious, and he smiled, too. “What?”

“We’re in our own house now. We can be as loud as we want. Nobody can hear us.”

Clear narrowed his eyes, looking at Aoba mischievously. "I bet I can be louder than you."

Aoba snorted mockingly. "Yeah, right. Nobody's louder than me."

"Except for me, of course."

"Shut up."

"I will absolutely not shut up! In fact, I will do the polar opposite!"

Clear gripped Aoba’s hips and thrusted up into him rather abruptly, causing a kind-of-squeaky startled cry to slip from Aoba’s lips. Clear cried out louder in return.

After a few minutes of Clear moving his hips up and Aoba moving his hips down, meeting in the middle with equal effort from both parties, Clear grabbed Aoba’s hips again. This time, though, he lifted Aoba several inches off the bed until he was hovering above him, no longer sitting on the bed. Aoba looked confused until Clear started to thrust like a jackhammer up into him. Obviously overstimulated by the sudden change in pace, Aoba’s eyes rolled back and he moaned incoherently, fumbling blindly until he found Clear’s chest to stabilize himself on. He was being so loud that, in the back of his mind, Clear worried that the neighbours might actually be able to hear.

When Clear came, he didn't make very much noise at all. He was so overwhelmed with emotions and physical stimulation that all he could manage was a few short, ragged gasps as he tensed and pulsed inside Aoba's pliant warmth. Aoba, on the other hand, was louder than Clear had ever heard him. He raked his nails down Clear's chest (which Clear honestly didn't mind) and threw his head back as he practically screamed. It didn't seem like he was putting it on, either -- he must have genuinely been enjoying it that much. Clear felt a bit of pride knowing that he had made Aoba fall apart like that.

“I won,” Aoba said once he had caught his breath.

“What?”

“I was louder.” He looked down at Clear and grinned.

“There’s always next time,” Clear said dismissively. (In all honesty, Clear had known Aoba was going to win the contest by a landslide; he had just wanted to see how loud Aoba could really be.)

*     *     *

Aoba couldn't believe it. In the span of twenty-four hours, he had gained a budding family and a home with his long-term, committed partner. It was strange, but it felt right.

Clear’s grandfather came to visit their new home a few days after they had officially moved in, which Aoba thought was sweet until he realized the old man was just there to make sure they weren’t fucking anything up with the eggs. He gave the couple explicit instructions on how to clean the tank and what was safe to put in it.

“Come on, how hard can it be? I had goldfish as a kid! This isn’t that different, right?” Aoba joked. Neither Clear nor his grandfather thought it was very funny.

Once the old man left, Clear and Aoba sat on the floor beside the tank, watching the eggs (though there wasn’t much to see).

“How many eggs do you think are gonna hatch?” Aoba asked.

“I’m not sure, Aoba.” Clear cocked his head to the side as if in thought. “I think that usually about three or four eggs hatch, but that’s just going off of what I’ve seen.”

Aoba hummed noncommittally. “We’re going to have to think of names.”

“Ooh!” Clear cried in excitement, “Let’s name one Jelly!”

Aoba narrowed his eyes. “We are not naming our child Jelly.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s a weird name! Have you ever met a person named Jelly?”

“No, but there’s a first for everything!”

Aoba sighed. “Okay. Maybe.”

“Yay!” Clear grinned and kissed Aoba on the cheek. “I hope they all look just like you!”

“Ehh? Really?” Aoba blushed. “I’d rather have them look like you. Or a combination of both of us.” He studied Clear’s face for a moment. “Don’t you think our kids will be pretty? Imagine what someone with parts of both of us would look like.”

“They would be the second-most beautiful person in the whole world.”

Aoba rolled his eyes, though he had a fond smile on his face.

Now that Aoba was back on land again, he needed to start working, but he didn’t want to sell fish anymore -- he felt it was a bit of an ethical concern, given the circumstances -- so he called Clear’s grandfather and asked if he could work for him at his fruit stand instead. The old man said he could do more than work for him; Aoba could completely take over the fruit stand, allowing him to finally retire. Aoba accepted the offer.

Aoba's friends didn't have to cope with the financial burden of losing a roommate; the Alphas moved in with them, taking his place. They were able to pay rent because they taught swimming lessons for young children. Also, Noiz kind of had a thing with Alpha Two, which was a weird turn of events that worked out pretty well.

Life had returned to a pleasant level of stability as Aoba and Clear settled into their new life together. Sometimes, though, Aoba noticed Clear staring out the window at the ocean, probably yearning to go back. It was understandable. Maybe, someday, he would go back; at least for a little while. Maybe Aoba would go with him. Maybe they would explore the depths of the ocean, the parts not even Clear knew about. Maybe they would meet all sorts of sea creatures and see all sorts of underwater wonders and teach their children all about the endless surprises the ocean had to offer.

Or maybe they wouldn't. Who knows?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there it is!!!!! clear and aoba are fish dads!!!!! it's canon
> 
> idk if i'll have another fic coming. i hope that i will tho!! i really hope i will
> 
> anyway. thanks for reading!! :^) i hope u enjoyed it and i hope u found the ending satisfying!!

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on tumblr @ skittybitty!! i love talking to you guys so please please message me!! if there's anything you want me to see just tag it as skittybitty, lol it isn't a terribly lively tag but i check it semi-regularly just in case


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